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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

[vinnomot] The World is Going to the Dogs, Really [Don't miss it]

"This year total pet industry spending in the United States is estimated to reach $40.8 billion according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. The CIA World Fact Book online indicates that figure is more than the gross domestic product of 60 per cent of the world's nations....." [excerpt from the Epoch Times article]

You may have seen a perfumed pet wear designer clothes but ever thought of seeing a dog as a church minister? Or a dog going to the spa for a body massage? What about a pet playing the role of a human spouse? 

Enjoy the story....

-Jahed Ahmed
 NY

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The World is Going to the Dogs, Really

A look at the stranger side of the multi-billion dollar pet industry

By Matthew Little
Epoch Times Winnipeg Staff
 Oct 28, 2007

A dog in designer duds at the 2007 Pet Fashion Week in New York this August. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)
A dog in designer duds at the 2007 Pet Fashion Week in New York this August. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

The pet industry is booming and businesses are now offering luxury services for animals that would have been considered absurd just a generation ago.
Those services go beyond boarding kennels and dog walking. One Ritz-Carlton hotel in Sarasota, Florida offers a $130 USD dog massage. For another $220 USD the pampered pup gets an in-room massage, nail polish or a nail buff, a gourmet meal of organic stew, gourmet dog biscuits, and designer water served on a silver tray.
 
Americans aren't the only one pampering their pups. Australia, England, Canada and many other countries are catering to canines and kitties like never before. Doggy day spas with services ranging from pawdicures to aromatherapy baths are popping up around the world.
Pets can now be dressed in designer clothes from Old Navy and have their fur cleaned with tea tree shampoo created by John Paul, the co-founder of Paul Mitchell. There are even faux mink coats, feathered French day beds and botanical fragrances created just for the four-legged, not to mention pet bodybuilding formulas and obesity medications.
 
Products like these are being sold at high-end pet stores like Dusty Days Pet Boutique in Arizona and Lush Puppy in Las Vegas. Pet boutiques sell everything from gourmet food to dog make-up, designer silver jewelry and pearl necklaces.
 
One store markets its products with distinctly sexual undertone. It encourages owners to bath with their pets and give them lavish luxuries like Play Dog Shampoo which is packaged in bottles featuring a scantily clad woman in a playboy bunny outfit being chanced by a prancing dog.
 
The store is proud to boast of its celebrity clientele that includes Paris Hilton and Sharon Osbourne.
 
But this trend goes beyond canine couture and kitty Cotton Ginny. Some people are even bringing their pets to church. St. Raphael Catholic Church in Cleveland allows parishers to bring their dogs to be blessed and the service is reported to include the song "Who let the dog's out."
While some may not
 
object to dogs attending mass, most would question a dog giving it. Not that that is happening just yet. But there is one dog who has become an ordained minister through an online church. Certificate in hand, Reverend Tyker (who looks to be a Scottish Terrier) is prepared to bless animal unions so pet owners needn't worry about their pets having premarital sex.
 
"Wed that bull to the whole herd!" proclaims the PetWeds.com website. "Make an honest man out of your ram. If they've bred . . . Get them wed! Stamp out illegitimate critter litters!"
The site offers to wed any animal species and says Tyker will even bless inter-species unions. The site's owners draw the line at marrying animals to humans.
The owners of MarryYourPet.com, however, do not.
 
On this site pet owners are encouraged to marry their animals. The site offers a certificate and T-shirt to the owner and features testimonials from pet owners. While the site is almost certainly a joke, some of the testimonials don't appear to be. One woman said "I've been with Judas for a while now, and everyone usually laughs and 'aws' when I introduce him formally as my "Lifepartner." But I love him, way, way more than any human relationships I have."
 
Other pet services also range from the reasonable to the ridiculous. At first mention, the term "pet psychologist" sounds like a joke but in fact these increasingly regulated professionals help pet owners work out a "behaviour modification plan" to address pets who are misbehaving. With increasing regulation, more schools in the U.S are offering training for this profession. Pet psychologists charge upwards of $50/hr but they do not actually lay Lassy on a psychologists coach and try to get her to introspect on the early loss of her family. That is a job that falls more to the pet psychics. These "animal communicators" talk to pets who are on this side of the living or beyond. Some pet psychics say they don't need to actually see the pet and can do it over the telephone by "tuning into their energy." Many claim to help owners and their pets better understand each other, find health problems in the animal or unravel behaviour problems.
One "psychic" even has a pet blog where she logs the various conversations she has had with different animals. On it she relays the words of a misunderstood pit bull that says it upsets her people think she is a biter. Another log recounts the words of a bunny complaining her cage was too messy.
Several companies even offer pet caskets, urns, funerals, and memorial services, not to mention taxidermy. One of those offering services for deceased pets is Pet-gems, which custom-makes jewels from a pet's remains.
 
While some of these pet services may seem ridiculous, the cost of those services is no laughing matter. This year total pet industry spending in the United States is estimated to reach $40.8 billion according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. The CIA World Fact Book online indicates that figure is more than the gross domestic product of 60 per cent of the world's nations.
 
The majority of that money, $16.1 billion, will be spent on food. Vet bills will total just under $10 billion as will supplies and over-the-counter medicine. Grooming and boarding are projected to hit $2.9 billion.
That's a lot of kibble, more than twice the $23 billion spent in 1998. And that jump isn't from a proportional increase in the number of pets. According to the National Pet Owners Survey this year 63 per cent of U.S households (71.1 million homes) reported owning a pet compared to 56 percent in 1998, an increase of only 7 per cent.
 
That suggests that the rapid jump in pet spending is because people dedicating more cash to their kitty. With doggy day spas and diamond collars for kittens, it makes a person wonder what could be next. You might say the world is going to the cats and dogs.
Copyright 2000 - 2007 The Epoch USA Inc.

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