Gen Z Leads Spending on Pets, Willing to Make Extreme Sacrifices

A new study has uncovered how much more Gen Z pet owners are willing to spend on their pets than older generations.

A Harris Poll survey of more than 2,100 adults, published by The New York Post, found that Gen Z pet owners are spending an average of $6,103 on their pets per year, whereas Boomers are spending $2,454, despite being richer on average.

The second highest spenders on their pets are Millennials, who spend an average of $5,150 per year on their pet. Gen X spend an average of $3,878 per year.

When it comes to what owners are willing to do for their animals in an emergency, Gen Z are the most extreme, with one in five telling pollsters they’d be willing to “sell an organ” to pay for their animal. Nearly half of Gen Z told pollsters they see no real difference between their pet and a human child, and see pet ownership like trial parenthood.

Boomers likely spend the least on pets as they are more likely to have cash on hand for emergency bills, and therefore do not have to take out loans or spread payments out over several credit cards like their younger counterparts. They also have, on average, a more removed relationship from their animals, being more likely to refer to them as a “pet” than a “fur baby,” or “child.”

Pet owners are currently experiencing a phenomenon that has been deemed “Petflation,” as they are paying an all time high on their pets; which 77 per cent of study respondents said is “like a child” to them.

Pet owners spent $158 billion on their pets in 2025, per American Pet Products Association statistics, making 2025 an all-time high for pet spending.

A large factor in pet spending is vet bills, which have risen by over 60 percent in the past decade. Within the past decade, private equity ownership of vet offices has also risen from 8 per cent to 30 per cent across America, per Private Equity Vet.

A 2024 article in The Atlantic found that private equity firms are pouring billions of dollars into vet firms, as they understand that a number of Americans are willing to spend beyond their means to keep their pet alive.

One of the biggest owners of vets across the country is Mars Inc., the candy company. Another owner of over 1,000 animal hospitals is JAB Holding Company, which also owns Panera. Thanks in part to private equity involvement, vets are being flipped into profit driven enterprises.

Regular inflation is also impacting the price of medication, food, and other pet supplies.

Another study by health insurance company, Healthy Paws, called Love vs. Limits: The New Economics of Pet Care concurred with the idea that Americans were willing to spend a fortune on their pets, discovering that 62 percent of Americans were willing to take on debt, and 73 percent were willing to sacrifice personal luxuries to pay for their animal.

The study found that over an average lifespan of 12 years, pet owners would spend up to $50,000 on their animals for everything from food to vet visits to grooming supplies. This figure does not include emergency surgery or end-of-life care.