National dog day is August 26th!
As a self-declared dog person, I’ve never felt more strongly that any national “day” should be made a national holiday. How am I supposed to properly treat my dog-child when I’m sitting in the office?
Sitting here thinking about how I can’t properly honor my pup on this day got me wondering though – is Fond du Lac county made up of dog or cat people? How many people here work with or supply us with what we need to care for our animals? And are they able to earn a living doing what they do to support the animals we love?
Let’s start at the top. Over 60% of Fond du Lac residents own any type of pet! Obviously, I am biased (I hope Fond du Lac residents are dog people) – and I am so pleased to find out that we are!
46% of us own at least one dog, while only 28% own at least one cat. Sorry cat folks, but you’re outnumbered. Both dog and cat owners are evenly split between owning one dog/cat and owning multiple dogs/cats. I guess that “old cat lady” stereotype doesn’t really play out in Fond du Lac county after all.
But here’s where it gets interesting! Fond du Lac county has 3% more households that own pets than Wisconsin generally and 7% more households that own pets than the national average! Is it because of our outdoors lifestyle? Low cost of living? Family-friendly lifestyle?
RELATED WORKFORCE
So even though more of us own pets, we have a lower concentration of related jobs. Only 197 people work in pet care (such as grooming), veterinary services, pet and pet supply stores, and dog and cat food manufacturing. This is 13% below the national average for an area such as this! We also saw a 5.7% decrease in these jobs from 2018-2019, where as state-wide there was an increase in these jobs of 4.7%! And to pack even more punch, these workers earn an average of $31,657 per year, which is roughly 25% less than the national average of $42,166. Despite our lower cost of living, the cost of living difference alone does not account for the reduced wages.
The two largest occupations in this industry here in Fond du Lac county are veterinary technologists and technicians (25.4%) and animal caretakers (18.8%). Most are women (74%) and nearly half (43.8%) are over the age of 45 – which, coupled with the high need but low openings in our region, means that there will be significant openings in this field over the next few decades.
PURCHASING POWER
The largest industry requirement, as a pet parent and as a business operator in this field, is dog and cat food. Fond du Lac residents spend $30 less per year on average on dog and cat food than Wisconsinites and Americans, coming in at an $245/year average. And 10% of you dog-owners haven’t given your dog a biscuit or treat in the last 12 months? I’m not too sure about you treat-free folks out there. With a total of 20,005 households in our county that own a dog and at an average of $245.01 per year spent on pet food per household, that comes out to a total of $4,901,425 per year in our county spent on dog food! There are numerous local dog and pet food suppliers that carry locally-sourced or Wisconsin-made pet food, and I encourage you to use your dollars to support local pet food suppliers and producers.
You know, on National Dog Day, it’s reassuring to know that so many of my fellow Fond du Lac residents truly are dog people at heart.
Written by Elle Moore, Research Specialist