You need a tonne of salt
Detail:
You’d think it was the end of the world by these headlines: “Expensive vet bills forcing animal lovers to kill pets” and “Pets put to sleep due to veterinary treatment costs”. The articles (of which there are several in various papers and websites) go on to say that more than half the vets in this country claim that over the past five years they’ve put down dogs and cats because their owners could not afford the cost of treatment. And 88 per cent of vets said they’ve had owners reject treatment for their pet, again due to cost.
But then you realise that these articles are based on a press release, on behalf of Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance.
And then you discover that in total, these statistics were based on interviews of 51 vets last December. So 28 vets (56 per cent!) said they had to euthanase a pet due to cost considerations. And just how many vets are there in the country? Apparently 16,000. Let me spell it out for you: sixteen thousand. Now I’m no statistician, and my maths grades in school were mediocre at best, but by my calculations this means only 0.3 per cent of the vets in the country were contacted. Is this statistically significant? Surely not!
The other little thing to note is that this press release came exactly five years to the day after Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance first warned the population that vets’ fees were rising above inflation. Then it reported the figure of 10 per cent; today the figure is said to be 12 per cent.
As it is, whenever I see news reports involving statistics I cringe and read them with a pinch of salt. With this, I think a tonne is more apt.
However, a pet shop manager told me the other day how customers would occasionally ask her staff for advice on treating an ailment in their pet. Sometimes they could help, such as with worming, other times they had to point said customer in the direction of a vet. Chances are with headlines like this, retailers could see more customers coming in for free advice.
But then you realise that these articles are based on a press release, on behalf of Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance.
And then you discover that in total, these statistics were based on interviews of 51 vets last December. So 28 vets (56 per cent!) said they had to euthanase a pet due to cost considerations. And just how many vets are there in the country? Apparently 16,000. Let me spell it out for you: sixteen thousand. Now I’m no statistician, and my maths grades in school were mediocre at best, but by my calculations this means only 0.3 per cent of the vets in the country were contacted. Is this statistically significant? Surely not!
The other little thing to note is that this press release came exactly five years to the day after Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance first warned the population that vets’ fees were rising above inflation. Then it reported the figure of 10 per cent; today the figure is said to be 12 per cent.
As it is, whenever I see news reports involving statistics I cringe and read them with a pinch of salt. With this, I think a tonne is more apt.
However, a pet shop manager told me the other day how customers would occasionally ask her staff for advice on treating an ailment in their pet. Sometimes they could help, such as with worming, other times they had to point said customer in the direction of a vet. Chances are with headlines like this, retailers could see more customers coming in for free advice.
By:
Sandra
Date/time :
27/02/2010
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