Australian's love pets, and we're spending the cash to prove it.

Creatures great and small are a ubiquitous part of our lives, so much so that two-thirds of Australian households have at least one pet, according to Petnet, and 85% of us grew up with pets as kids.

While the fact we like pets is nothing new; the way we're treating them is.

As our society has become more luxury driven, our pets have too.  Examples of ways pets are becoming humanised include Doggles (dog sunglasses), gourmet foods, portraits, funeral and cremation services right down to the celebrity enjoyed by Paris Hilton's Chihuahua Tinkerbell.

Whether or not you agree with the rise of the pet industry, it makes big bucks.

Market research group Euromonitor found that Australians spent more than $1.5 billion alone on pet food and pet care products in 2003.  That figure doesn't include the price of buying the pet, visits to the vet or things like mobile grooming.

Highly critical that "pets are increasingly cared for according to human patterns and human aesthetic standards", the Australia Institute's report overconsumption of pet food in Australia released last year, found we spend more money on our pets than on foreign aid.

The trend to pet spend is not slowing.  The pet industry was tipped by US magazine Entrepreneur as the number three "hot market" for 2005, with the increasing variety of pets outside cats and dogs fuelling demand.

"There are four times the number of pet fish than there are cats and dogs put together," says Peter Nobbs, executive director of the Pet Industry Association of Australia (PIAA).

"Ferrets are an example of a growing breed of pets.  There's also arachnids; what possesses people to have spiders as a pet I don't know, but they appeal to some."

Product, product, product

Pet-related products are the real boom area, stirring heated debate. Driven by the desire for wellbeing and better nutrition, the pet food aisle has become a menagerie of products jostling for elbow room.

"The only limit to growth in this industry in Australia is people's willingness to overindulge their pets the way they overindulge themselves," says Richard Denniss, author of the Australia Institute's pet industry report.  "The great thing about this from the pet industry's perspective is that pets can never say no."

Denniss acknowledges the pet industry has been innovative, but says with so much of that focus on $2000 chaise lounges for animals, fur-lined sleeping bags for ferrets and beef flavoured dog water, "the line between the absurd and innovative is non-existent to me."

Others see it more positively. Nobbs says the proliferation of new pet products, particularly food, is thanks to a better understanding of what's good for our pets.

"What we knew about canine nutrition ten years ago and now is like chalk and cheese," says Nobbs. "As we learn new biological needs, we learn new ways to meet those needs."

What this all means is that the pet product market is filled with opportunity.

"The pet industry dives onto people with new ideas," says Nobbs. "There's huge potential for young entrepreneurs."

Primped and pampered

Just like humans, appearances for pets are becoming increasingly important. Though Extreme Makeover for Pets is yet to materialise, mobile pet grooming, professional dog walkers, pet day-care and doggy yoga are helping our pets stay in the best possible shape in our time deprived world.

For service providers, the industry is a good one, with relatively low start-up costs and an ever-expanding market, and young entrepreneurs are cashing in on the trend.

South Australian Tony Richter is one of those with his mobile dog grooming business K9Kingdom. Looking to start up a new business, the 29 year old decided on the pet industry and started out 18 months ago as a mobile dog wash. Quickly realising demand for overall grooming, he extended his business to offer that.

"The growth is crazy and I don't think it's reached anywhere near it's potential yet," says Richter. "There's a whole heap more like aromatherapy, acupuncture and natural remedies still to come."

Source: Rebecca Martin - ABC Network