Studies routinely name Colorado as in the country, but now says results of an in-house study rank Colorado as the No. 3 state with the healthiest pets.
That’s no shock, considering Colorado has also long been ranked in America. But knowing that our healthy lifestyles extend to our dogs, cats and other critters also gives us insight into the apparent ripple effect of such designations.
The Waltham, Mass.-based company, which connects families with child care, senior care, pet care and other services, used its “Think Tank” analysts to look at pet-care data in each state, ranking them across four categories: Illness, Access to Vet Care, Healthy Environment and Total Pet Spend.
The analysts then combined the metrics into the larger Pet Health ranking, according to a press release from Care.com. The states that ranked the highest had a low prevalence of pet illnesses, higher access to veterinary care, healthier environments for pets and higher pet-related spending (beyond veterinary care, the press release added).
Colorado, for example, had the second-lowest incidence of pet illnesses in the nation, as well as the second-high ranking in the country of spending on our pets. The only states that fared better overall than Colorado were Montana (No. 1) and Nebraska (No. 2).
“Pets in Western states enjoy a longer and healthier life than those in Eastern or Southern states where warmer climates contribute to the spread of infectious diseases like heartworm disease, Lyme disease and hookworms,” wrote Care.com’s lead data analyst, Joyce Hodel, in an e-mail to The Denver Post. “Western states also have more protected park land for pets to exercise, low cost pet insurance and high numbers of veterinarians per pet.”
Colorado fared poorly, however, in the Environment ranking, which takes into account the number of sheltered animals in the state (the more, the worse), percentage of protected land, air quality (specifically the number of high-particle pollution days) and other metrics.
In fact, we came in 45th.
“While you have great walk score, number of state parks and protected land, Colorado scored low on overall air quality, and one of the highest amounts of sheltered animals compared to other states,” wrote Amanda McNamara, Care.com marketing associate, in an e-mail.
But the western U.S. is still the healthiest place to live as a pet owner, according to the study’s full Top Ten list:
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Colorado
- New Mexico
- Idaho
- New Hampshire
- South Dakota
- Wyoming
- Kansas
- North Dakota
