![]() ![]() In a survey released this past August, more than half of all dog, cat, and bird owners reported having bought presents for their animals during the previous twelve months, often for no special occasion, just out of love. “We have so many customers who say they’d eat macaroni and cheese before they’d cut back on their dogs,” a Colorado pet-store owner recently told the Denver Post. (Seventeen billion goes to food and another twelve billion to veterinary bills.) Despite the recession, pet-related expenditures this year are expected to increase five per cent over 2008, in part owing to outlays on luxury items like avian manicures and canine bath spritz. Collectively, these creatures cost Americans some forty billion dollars annually. Thirteen million maintain freshwater aquariums in which swim a total of more than a hundred and seventy million fish. Forty-six million families in the United States own at least one dog, and thirty-eight million keep cats. Illustration by Sue CoeĪmericans love animals. This year, Americans will consume some thirty-five million cows, a hundred and fifteen million pigs, and nine billion birds. ![]()
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