The FINANCIAL — Americans have always had interesting relationships with their pets – whether those pets are cats, dogs, parakeets or something else entirely.
The FINANCIAL — Americans have always had interesting relationships with their pets – whether those pets are cats, dogs, parakeets or something else entirely.
The pet industry is thriving, and for good reason: three in five Americans (60%) have a pet. Those in the West (68%), Generation Xers (66%), Hispanics (68%) and those with a household income of $75,000 or more (66% $75,000-99,999 / 68% $100,000+) are the groups most likely to be pet owners.
Among these pet owners, dog owners are on top: two-thirds have a dog (67%), just over half have a cat (52%), about one in ten have a fish (12%), and less than one in ten pet owners have a bird (7%) or some other type of pet (9%).
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,634 adults surveyed online between May 7 and 15, 2012 by Harris Interactive.
Single pet households or small zoos? — Looking at how many of each type of animal pet owners share their homes with, three in five dog owners have just one (61%), while almost three in ten (28%) have two dogs and more than one in ten (11%) have three or more dogs in the house. Cats are a little more likely to have some feline companionship: less than half of cat owners have just one cat (46%) while one-third have 2 cats (32%) and more than one in five (22%) have three or more cats.
Pets are family members — Over nine in ten pet owners (91%) say they consider their pet to be a member of their family -a sentiment that remains constant among both dog (94%) and cat (91%) owners.
It's no empty sentiment – pet owners do many things to show their furry friends that they care:
Half of pet owners (51%) say they frequently let their pet sleep in the bed with them, while less than one-quarter (22%) say they never do this.
Pets also get presents: three in ten pet owners (31%) frequently purchase holiday presents for their pet, while another three in ten (31%) occasionally do so. Additionally, just under one in five pet owners (18%) frequently buy their pets birthday presents and 22% do so occasionally.
Pets are probably happy that their owners don't do two things: two-thirds of pet owners (65%) say they have never dressed their pet in some type of clothing and four in five (82%) say they have never taken their pet to work with them. If the dog or cat goes to work, how will they spend the day lying around on the couch?
