Can dogs help chickens? Pet owners' willingness to pay for animal welfare-friendly pet food in the United States

Consumer concern about farmed animal welfare is growing but does not always translate into real-world purchasing behaviour of welfare-friendly animal products for human consumption. Possible reasons for this include unfamiliarity with farming practices and economic sensitivity. In contrast, the number and role of pets in the United States have grown measurably, and spending on pets is strong. The pet food market has many opportunity niches as pet owners navigate strong marketing trends and nutrition philosophies. We hypothesised that pet owners in the US would be willing to pay a premium for pet food containing welfare-friendly animal ingredients. Eight hundred and thirty-eight pet owners completed an online survey asking questions that measured their knowledge of and interest in farm animal welfare, and their willingness-to-pay for pet food labelled as farm animal welfare-friendly. Respondents overall displayed relatively low knowledge about farm animal welfare, but poor self-assessment of their own knowledge. They displayed interest in farm animal welfare and an overall positive mean willingness-to-pay (WTP) for welfare-friendly pet food. Younger respondents, women and cat owners displayed a higher WTP than older respondents, men and dog owners. Income level was not correlated to WTP. Creating pet food products that contain animal ingredients produced using welfare-friendly practices may enhance farm animal welfare via two primary avenues: by providing a sustainable and value-added outlet for the by-products of welfare-friendly human food products, and by providing an educational opportunity about farm animal production via pet food packaging and other advertising.

Automated summary

While consumer concern about farmed animal welfare is increasing, there is a gap between concern and actual purchase of welfare-friendly animal products. This may be due to lack of familiarity with farming practices and cost considerations. On the other hand, the demand for pet products is growing in the US, and pet owners are willing to spend on their pets. We conducted a survey among pet owners in the US and found that they have low knowledge about farm animal welfare but are interested in it. Additionally, they showed a willingness to pay more for pet food labeled as welfare-friendly.