8/6/12, "Pet ownership declines, but more households loyal to dogs," USA Today, E. Weise
"Americans had 2 million fewer dogs and 7.6 million fewer cats at the end of last year than at the end of 2006, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) says.
The reasons are both economic and demographic as fewer Americans live in families, which are more likely to own pets. Most pet owners have dogs: about 70 million of them in 36.5% of U.S. homes. Cats, at 74 million, are in 30.4% of homes.
It's the first decline in dog or cat households since 1991.
"It's clearly the economy," says Karen Felsted of Felsted Veterinary Consultants, in Richardson, Texas. She presented the findings at the vets association's national meeting in San Diego this week. "The percentage of households that owned at least one pet was down 2.4%." That's 2.8 million households that became petless. "It's a significant number," she says.
The number of pets of all kinds had been rising steadily since at least 1986, when AVMA began doing its twice-a-decade count. But from 2006 to 2011 it declined."...via Lucianne
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