Obsessed with your pet? Texans sure are — in fact, we’re considered the most pet-friendly state in the nation according to one new ranking.
Joy Organics, a company that sells CBD tinctures, recently did a study to see which state is the best for pets and their owners, and Texans made their voices, howls, and purrs heard loud and clear.
There were five categories: average spend on pets by state, the amount of pet shelters or adoption centers, pet ownership by state, social media accounts for pets, and the amount of pet-friendly eateries. “Pet” is not exactly defined here, but we’re going to assume Joy Organics means dogs, cats, and perhaps also gerbils, chinchillas, hamsters, and the like?
Data was collected from a variety of sources, including Twitter, sales figures from Bixbi (a dog food and treat brand), worldpopulationreview.com, PetFinder, and petfriendlyrestaurants.com.
Thanks to the pandemic, 2020 was a banner year for pets and the pet industry, with the American Pet Products Association reporting that the overall annual spend within the industry surged to a record-breaking $100 billion.
Our part in that was spending about $104 per order, the fifth highest in U.S. and $30 over the national average. That adds up when you consider 58 percent of Texas families have a pet.
Chances are good that we adopted those pets from a shelter, as the Lone Star State has 3.6 pet shelters per 100,000 people, tying for ninth place with South Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan.
We’re also pretty pumped to take our pups along when we go out, especially since so many eateries welcome our furry friends. Texas boasts 3.8 pet-friendly restaurants per 100,000 residents, eclipsing the average of 2.8 per 100,000.
And because we feel the need to post our meals (and pretty much everything else) online, Texans run the second most social media accounts dedicated to just pets — that’s four times the national average.
Coming in close behind Texas are Florida and South Carolina, while Alaska, South Dakota, and Iowa rank as the least pet-friendly states.