世論 What Japan Thinks

MyVoice recently published their second survey into pet life, a rather too direct translation of the Japanese title of the survey. I also translated the results of their first look at pet life almost three years ago, for reference.

Demographics

Over the first five days of September 2008 15,293 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online survey. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 19% in their fifties.

When I wrote about cat pee and poo recently one question that came up there too was about shedding hair. One of my readers, sasutan, was kind enough to highlight the FURminator as an effective means of reducing shedding. However, some investigation on the internet priced it at around 10,000 yen (US$100), but further investigation showed that an alternative, the ShedBuster is widely available in Japan at under a third of the price, and apparently even uses the identical metal brush head supplier as the FURminator. One especially nice bonus of these undercoat brushes is that unlike ordinary brushes they don’t cause huge clouds of hair, but instead almost all the hair clumps in the tines, so there’s fewer problems for those with cat allergies, and of course less dead hair also means less dandruff, the cause of most cat allegies, so it’s a win-win device.

Research results

Q1: Do you have a pet? (Sample size=15,293)

Yes	35.8%
Used to, but not now (to end of survey)	34.6%
Never had one (to end of survey)	29.6%

Q2: What kinds of pet do you have? (Sample size=pet owners, multiple answer)

Cat	28.8%
Fish	27.3%
Small dog	24.9%
Medium dog	18.6%
Mammal other than cat or dog	7.7%
Insect	6.7%
Bird	6.1%
Lizard, amphibian	5.8%
Large dog	4.5%
Other	1.4%
No answer	0.2%

Q3: About how much do you spend per month on your pet(s)? (Sample size=pet owners)

Under 1,000 yen	25.6%
1,000 to 2,999 yen	22.0%
3,000 to 4,999 yen	20.1%
5,000 to 9,999 yen	15.3%
10,000 to 19,999 yen	7.4%
20,000 yen or more	3.1%
Don’t know	5.9%
No answer	0.6%

Q4: What kinds of things do you spend money on for your pet? (Sample size=pet owners, multiple answer)

Food	97.3%
Toilet-related items	48.0%
Medical bills (including vaccination)	29.9%
Grooming, cleaning	23.6%
Filters	13.0%
Trimming	11.3%
Toys	10.9%
Tank, case, cage	10.4%
Water feature, sank, layout items	9.8%
Pet clothes	6.2%
Heat, light	5.6%
Wood chips, under-cage items	4.7%
Pet insurance	3.4%
Pet-related books	3.2%
Pet hotel	2.8%
Training goods, services	1.5%
Nursing goods	0.6%
Other	4.5%
Don’t know	0.9%
No answer	0.1%

Q5: Where do you buy your pet goods? (Sample size=pet owners, multiple answer)

Home centre (DIY superstore)	66.7%
Pet shop	37.2%
Supermarket	20.1%
Online shop	19.2%
Discount store	16.2%
Pet hospital	8.1%
Mail order	5.6%
Convenience store	1.7%
Other	4.6%
Don’t buy pet goods myself	3.9%
No answer	0.7%

Q6: What kinds of problems do you experience keeping your pet? (Sample size=pet owners, multiple answer)

Shedding hair	39.9%
Can’t go for long travel	36.2%
Smell	32.3%
Worried about how they feel about being left at home	30.9%
Throwing out waste matter	22.1%
Nervous about pet dieing, running away, etc	21.8%
Howling, other noise	16.2%
Stains, damage to floors, walls	15.6%
The expense	10.8%
Difficult, strenuous to train	8.9%
Shampoo, other washing	7.8%
Space for/in cage, kennel, tank, etc	7.5%
Walkies	7.1%
Bothersome to look after	6.5%
How do dispose of a dead pet	6.3%
Getting bitten, scratched, etc	3.9%
Adjusting my lifecycle to fit my pet	3.7%
Mess from food	2.1%
Family opposition	0.5%
Other	2.6%
No particular problems	15.7%
No answer	0.3%