Our main conclusion is that the savings in annual health expenditure due to pets are very large. Small differences in health system usage between pet owners and non-owners translate into huge savings, simply because national health expenditure absorbs 8% of GDP.
Based on the method of disaggregating the nation's recurrent health expenditure, annual savings may range from $790 million (if it is assumed that only main carers of cats and dogs receive health benefits) to $1.5 billion (if it is assumed other family members also enjoy better health to a lesser extent). 68% of these savings accrue to government and 32% to private households. We contend that it would be appropriate to make an estimate in excess of $790 million because it seems highly likely that other members of the family besides the main carer receive at least some benefit.
It should be remembered that the counterfactual situation used for all calculations has been an Australia in which there are no pets. We have answered a classic economic "what if?" question. From a public policy standpoint, an alternative way of viewing the results is to ask how much saving there would be if dog and cat ownership were increased due to a campaign to promote the benefits of the human companion animal bond.
The results given in the paper provide a good starting point to estimate health benefits and savings, but a great deal of further research is needed before more precise estimates are available; estimates which would narrow down the wide range presented here. Larger or repeated national sample surveys are required to confirm, among other issues, that cat ownership confers health benefits. Also needed are more direct estimates of savings in hospital costs due to pets. Finally, longitudinal and prospective studies are essential both to confirm that there really is a causal (and not just a correlational) link between pet ownership and better health, and also to estimate the medium, longer term and even lifetime benefits.
What is clear is that there is a link between pet ownership and better health and that this link may have profound implications for health policy and practice.