Pets And Their People

By Deacon Mike Mannno

(The Wanderer) – As we move into the “dog days” of summer, I noticed an interesting report by the Pew Research Center. It found, unsurprisingly, that most pet owners see their pets as a part of their families. Now as a pet owner all my life, I decided to look into their research and do a little bit of my own on the subject.

Now, I have to confess that I am a biased witness. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a suburb of Des Moines where we had a fairly large yard in which we could let a dog run. I don’t remember too much about my first dog, only that I named him Meat Ball (my Italian coming out), and, according to my folks, I was a bit young and too small for him so he was given to one of my dad’s employees who had a small farm just out of town.

My real first pet was a little dog I named Ginger. She was as loyal as a dog could be. When my brother was born, my mom used to sit out on our front porch and let little Mark crawl around on the grass. Ginger was always near-by and I remember when anyone would walk up the street Ginger would take a position between Mark and the “threat,” show her teeth, and if the guy had his own dog, she would growl, always maintaining a position directly between my baby brother and the guy.

Now I’ve always treated my pets like part of the family, and according to the Pew research, most folks do so as well. It reports that most Americans, 62 percent own a pet and 38 percent own more than one. Of those, nearly all — 97 percent — consider them part of their families, and about half, 51 percent, say their pets are “as much a part of the family” as their human members. Women break a little ahead of men in this category with 57 percent considering a pet as much a part of the family versus 43 percent for the men.

The report indicates that the “as much” category is much higher for urban dwellers, 61 percent, with suburban residents at 47 percent and rural folks at 50 percent. Pew reported that the “as much” group was influenced by the owner’s family situation. “Unmarried pet owners and those who do not have children younger than 18 at home are the most likely to consider their pets to be as much a part of their family as a human member,” it reported.

According to Pew, dog owners top cat owners in the “as much as” category, 53 percent to 48 percent. In that dog-cat mix, 40 percent have a dog only, 23 percent have a cat, 24 percent have both, and 4 percent have neither.

The Pew report contains a lot of other interesting information concerning income brackets, racial backgrounds, such as: 68 percent of whites, and 66 percent of Hispanic adults own pets, just 37 percent of Asians, and 34 percent of blacks own pets. The report piqued my interest enough to do a bit more research.

Here is what I found: Half the dog owners in the country allow their dogs to sleep in their bed at night, 73 percent carry photos of their pet with them, only 18 percent of cat owners put their cats outdoors for the night.

Dogs are the most popular pet in the nation, found in 65.1 million households, followed by cats in 46.5 million homes, and fish in 11.1 million homes. Millennials make up the largest percentage of pet owners at 33 percent, followed by Gen X, 25 percent, and baby boomers at 24 percent.

According to the statistics, 42 percent of dog owners and 43 percent of cat owners got their pets from a store, while 38 percent of dog owners and 40 percent of cat owners say they got their pet from a breeder or shelter. Forbes Advisor reports that pet ownership has “increased significantly” over the past three decades; in 1988 only 59 percent of U.S. households had a pet.

Other interesting factoids: The average dog owner spends $1,201 annually on their pets as compared to cat owners who average $687. In addition to dogs and cats, 9.9 million households have a bird, 6.7 million have a small pet such as a rabbit, hamster, etc., 5.7 million have a reptile, and 3.5 million own a horse, although I never thought of them as pets.

Wyoming has the most pet owners at 72 percent, the District of Columbia has the lowest at 38 percent, Idaho has the most dog owners, 58 percent, and Vermont has the most cat owners, 45 percent. Those who think of the pet as their best friend is 78 percent; 89 percent say their pet has “brought them comfort” during COVID. The most popular dog breed is the Labrador Retriever, and the Ragdoll is the most popular cat breed.

Okay, so why take a column to discuss all this pet stuff? Well, to tell the truth I find this very interesting. The life and death of our pets are in a way a microcosm of our lives.

Just the other day I saw a Facebook video of a little girl getting a pet dog. In the video she was opening a box and shortly a head popped out and she began to realize what she was getting. A set of hands entered the picture and helped her open the box lid at which time she got a full view of the puppy. With help she pulled the little dog from the box, held it close to her and began to cry as she mouthed “thank you” to the person with her.

We’ve seen it all before, the surprise cat or dog given to a small child which invokes that precious response, tears and holding the new pet close as if the child was afraid someone would take it away. Great film for a pet food commercial. But I think it means more.

I remember thinking how the little girl in the video was shedding tears of joy, yet if the trajectory plays out correctly, that relationship will end with tears also as every pet owner’s dreaded decision must be made.

How close is that to our human condition? Every year millions celebrate the joy of a new relationship, be that marriage or birth. Yet we know that each of those relationships will end in tears: That’s the cycle of life. Yet how much more should that mean to a Christian?

If the figures above are correct and the vast majority of pet owners consider their pets on par with their human families, how many understand the pet-owner relationship better than the human-to-human relationship? This may be a stretch, but if we began to think of our fellow humans as well as we think of and treat our pets just maybe this might be a better place to live. Just sayin’.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/)