In this study, investigators surveyed pet owners at 6 different sites of a pet store chain. In order to qualify, respondents must have owned a pet within the last 3 years, be ≥18 years old, and live within specified zip codes. Total data from 529 respondents, representing 582 dogs and 402 cats, was descriptively analyzed. Respondents owned more cats than dogs; more cats were acquired from shelters or as strays. With regard to willingness to administer hypothetical treatments (eg, medication), dog owners were twice as likely to administer medications over a 30-day period than were cat owners. Owners that had acquired their cat from a shelter were more likely to feed a special diet than owners obtaining cats from other sources. Respondents who owned dogs were more likely to take their pet to a veterinarian for vaccinations and annual examination, or spend ≥$1000 for treatment of a chronic but not life-threatening condition than were cat owners. Respondents who obtained their pet from a shelter were twice as likely to take their pet to a veterinarian than those obtaining the pet from other sources regardless of species. Those respondents living in lower income areas were less likely to spend ≥$1000 on a cat or dog than respondents from higher income areas. Over 90% of all respondents expressed very high levels of attachment, except for owners of cats acquired as strays or from an “other” category (friends/family/neighbors).
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