Pets as Family. Really?

By isak, June 23, 2009

An Associated Press-Petside.com poll* of pet owners concluded that:

  • half of all American pet owners consider their pets as much a part of the family as any other person in the household
  • 36 percent said their pet is part of the family but not a full member
  • 29 percent of dog owners and 26 percent of cat owners celebrate pet birthdays
  • 37 percent of dog owners and 33 percent of cat owners include their pet’s photo or name in a holiday card
  • 50% of dog owners and 39% of cat owners have taken their pet on vacation
  • Taken to work — 21% for the dogs and 14% for the cats
  • Nearly half of all dog owners and 40 percent of cat owners admit giving their pets human food at least sometimes
  • single people (66 percent of single women versus 46 percent of married women) and women were more likely to call a pet a full member of the family
  • almost half (49 percent) of respondents have given at least one of their current pets a human-like name, including 51 percent of dog owners and 50 percent of cat owners
  • more cat owners (36%) allow their furry friends to sleep in the same bed with them than dog owners (29%)

*The AP-Petside.com poll was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media from May 28-June 1, 2009. It is based on landline and cellular telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,110 pet owners. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

2 Comments

  1. daniel says:

    i am trying to figure out what may be happening, i have a 6 week to 7 week old blue pitbull, she looked extremely healthy when we got her,which today is the july 8 2015 and on the 4th she got sick and was puking through the day… the 5 she puked once at night and that was it for the puking… but the diarrhea has been a off and on since we got her…but what worries me the most is i came home today and to find that she had diarrhea again but it was extremely dark, almost would mistake it for black looking at it on the floor, but in a paper towel it was really dark brown.. no blood in it… she has been drinking water, eating has slowed down a bit.. but seems to be losing weight, which also concerns me… she still plays and moves around but kinda seems sluggish… if any ideas please let me know as soon as you can, for sure i will be taking her in to the vet in a couple days but i cant right now do to no money, but i am willing to do anything to help her out until i can get her in to be seen… thanks

    • isak says:

      Dark stools like you are seeing are bloody stools which generally indicates a problem in her digestive tract. Given her age, perhaps she has worms? They are quite common in puppies and can cause stomach upset, diarrhea and loss of appetite. For the diarrhea, try giving her some plain canned pumpkin and/or sprinkle powdered acidophyllus over her food. Make sure the pumpkin does not have any spices in it. You want the plain kind. Acidophyllus puts good bacteria into her stomach and can be purchased in almost any store that carries vitamins. It comes in capsules that you can pull apart to sprinkle on her food.

      Talk to your vet about a good wormer to cover the various worms a dog can get. There is more than one kind — roundworms, hookworms and tapeworms. Once wormed, you can follow up by regularly sprinkling food grade diatomaceous earth on her food. This will keep her digestive tract clean of worms. Make sure it is FOOD GRADE.

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