So who is it? The Dog or the Cat? For many years there was no question, "dog" was man's best friend. With urbanization and the growing number of households with both spouses working outside the home, it appears that has changed.

The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, the leading U.S. not-for-profit pet industry organization, conducts comprehensive research examining demographics, buying habits and other traits of U.S. guardians of dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles, and small animals. It 2003-2004 National Pet Owners Survey found that the number of households with pets has increased by more than 10 million since 1992 and that 62% of U.S. households contain at least one pet. That's 64.2 million households (up 20% over 10 years ago) inhabited by 77.7 million cats, 65 million dogs, 16.8 million small animals, 17.3 million birds, 8.8 million reptiles, 7 million saltwater fish, and 185 million freshwater fish! That's nearly 6 pets per household. As the industry organization says, "America's ongoing love affair with the companion animal community is solid." They estimate that pet owners will spend $31 billion in 2003 to care for, feed, spoil, and pamper their animal friends.

Currently, dogs and cats are found in at least one out of three U.S. households. That sounds like a lot but it is certainly not enough to provide homes for all of the puppies and kittens born each year. To put this in perspective, think about the fact that for every child born, 15 puppies and 45 kittens are born. To keep up with the current flood of puppies and kittens, and assuming that people live for 75 years while cats and dogs live for an average of 10 years, every single person would have to care for 2 dogs and 6 cats at all times throughout their lifetime. A household of 5 people would have to own and care for 10 dogs and 30 cats!

For pet product manufacturers this sounds like a dream come true. For those of us who work in animal welfare, it confirms what we already know - there are not nearly enough homes for all the animals being born. We can never adopt our way out of the nightmare of euthanasia. Kittens and puppies are cute. Pet overpopulation is not. It is a nightmare - made worse by the fact that cost-effective solutions are so readily available. Spaying and neutering costs far less than sheltering and killing homeless animals. It is far more ethical and humane. Local governments could subsidize free spay/neuter surgeries for every pet in Humboldt County and still spend less than they will sheltering and killing them.

So, who is the winner of the most-popular-pet debate? As long as there are millions of animals being killed simply for lack of a home - there is no winner.