A Nation of Pets!

Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson

Mark Cushing, CEO of Animal Policy Group and author of Pet Nation

On a recent flight from New Orleans, my wife pointed to four companion animals that were visible from where we were seated. And when one is buckled into a seat on an airplane one’s vision is pretty limited. There must have been more animals aboard that flight!

Holy Smokes!!! Our pets are now flying with us!

In the past two decades the population of pets in the United States has nearly doubled. During this same period of time the birth rate of the nation’s human population has been in decline, leading to one of the lowest birth rates on record, and heading for lowest birth rate ever.

Given the numbers, it is evident that the United States has given itself over to becoming a “Pet Nation.”

In fact, almost two-thirds of Americans now own a pet. And we treat those pets as if they were our children. We turn our homes and yards over to them; feed them the best foods money can buy; take them to pet doctors who cost a fortune; build parks for them; and yes, we even fly with them.

That so many Americans are now owned by their pets leads us to ask:

How did the United States become a Pet Nation?