all spurred byjumps in pet ownership, which we saw to the extreme in places like right here in the uk, where the number of households with pets jumped during the pandemic by around 20%, and places like australia, where there was an 8% jump, the world's largest market, the united states, it saw pet ownership levels hit a 30—year high during the pandemic, which have since stabilised. but the amount of money the americans are spending on their animals is still on the up, climbing from under $100 billion pre—pandemic to nearly 150 billion bucks last year. so what's all this money being spent on? well, full disclosure here, cos i've got skin in the game as a pet owner myself. take a look. 0k. meet hank and margo, our eight—year—old ragdoll cats, brother and sister. it took my wife a year and a half to convince me to get a cat, so when i caved in, i decided, well, two is better than one. we got them when they were three months old. paid just over £2,000 for both. but, boy, the costs don't stop there. from the copious amount of toys to their scandinavian beds, the fancy scratch post