Pet ownership has reached an all-time high in America: 68.7 million U.S. households owned pets in 2006, up 12.4 percent from 61.1 million in 2001, according to new statistics from the American Veterinary Medical Association (Schaumburg, Ill.).

Altogether, six out of 10 U.S. households own at least one companion animal, according to the “U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographic Sourcebook,” published every five years by the AVMA. Leading the pack are dog owners (37 percent of U.S. households, up 3 percent since 2001) and cat owners (32 percent of U.S. households, up 2.5 percent since 2001). Eight percent of households own fish, up 27.9 percent since 2001. Only 4 percent of households own birds, down 15 percent since 2001.

The states with the highest number of pet-owning households are California (7.3 million), Texas (5.2 million) and Florida (4.1 million).

Based on the percentage of pet-owning households, pet ownership is highest in Vermont (75 percent), Idaho and Oregon (73 percent each), Wyoming, New Mexico, Maine and Montana (70 percent each), Oklahoma (69 percent), West Virginia (67 percent) and Washington (66 percent). Interestingly, half of the states are in the Northwestern part of the United States.

The 10 states with the lowest percentage of pet-owning households were Florida (55 percent), Mississippi, Rhode Island and Louisiana (54 percent), Illinois, North Dakota and Massachusetts (51 percent), Maryland and New Jersey (50 percent) and New York (49 percent). The District of Columbia also had a low rate of pet ownership (20 percent).

In every age group, women are the primary caregivers for pets. In fact, 75 percent of pet owners with primary responsibility for their pets were female in 2006, the study found.

Other interesting facts from the study:
•  Americans made 193 million visits to the veterinarian.
•  Less than 2 percent of Americans consider their pets to be property.

To order a copy of the AVMA’s “U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographic Sourcebook,” call 800-248-2862 or visit www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/sourcebook.asp. [March 2008 PET AGE]

PETS OWNED IN AMERICA
	2006	2001	1996
Cats	81.7 million	68.9 million	59.1 million
Dogs	72 million	61.6 million	52.9 million
Birds	11.2 million	10.1 million	12.6 million