It goes without saying that the impacts from COVID have in some way shape or form changed our respective worlds and that goes for our pets too!
As lockdowns and work from home became the new norm, our furry friends were no doubt in their own little worlds and wondering what is all this fuss about? Why does my owner look so sad some days?
One major trend our furbabies would have noticed during 2021 is greater access to their parent(s) now they have been working more from home! This has meant more treats, more attention and most likely some more indoor time with their family. Although our pets are most likely immune to the impacts of COVID in a medical sense, they are not immune to the social and physical impacts of the pandemic.
Increased demand for companion pets
In 2021, we have seen an upward trend for clients looking to purchase new family pets through breeders across the country. Popular breeds range from Labradoodles, Golden Retrievers, Cavoodles, Pugs and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels which has forced prices upwards from increased demand.
As a result of increased pricing and limited supply, the year was also defined by prospective pet lovers adopting and rehoming animals at levels that were unseen or heard of in many years.
In fact, the number of quotation requests we received to transport animals in this manner increased by over 15% during 2021.
Pet lovers looked for opportunities to become parents and to adopt animals from shelters and rescue organisations across the nation giving hope and love to pets that were in need of a new home. This trend significantly increased during the lockdown months we were forced to stay at home and forced into isolation.
What does this mean for 2022?
So where to from here? Will and when will we eventually go back to work full-time? How do we re-train our furbabies mindset that they do not have full access to us from Monday to Friday?
The upward trend on pet ownership has helped singles, couples and families to unite with pets in so many positive ways. Pet owners have had the comfort of new pets to look after, train and walk for exercise during the day, which has helped many of us have a break from work when potentially glued to a computer screen during lockdown!
Many pets have found loving and caring new homes that they may not have found in normal times. They have also found new friends and family members that they never had before and some have even relocated across borders (with a little help from the magnificent team at Jetpets!!).
It is important for those new pet owners to maintain the disciplines for maintaining play-time, walking and giving time to their new furbabies when they start to go back to the office as pets will become very quickly accustomed to the extra attention they may had been enjoying during lockdown!
