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Issue Date: July 6, 2008
The truth about cats
Americans own more felines than canines. "Why then," writes USA WEEKEND pet expert Steve Dale, "don't we treat them as well?"
You'd think from the numbers that cats are "man's best friend." According to the American Veterinary Medical Association's "U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook," cats outnumber dogs by more than 10 million (82 million to 72 million). And, no question, kitties have legions of fans.
But here's the dirty little secret: Cats are more often neglected than dogs, more often relinquished to shelters than dogs and less often taken to veterinarians than dogs.
What's up with that? I can tell you that whenever I write about cats for USA WEEKEND or my newspaper column or speak favorably about cats on TV or radio, I get "I hate cats" mail. People generally like dogs -- unless, perhaps, they've had a bad experience with them. The "I hate cats" mail outnumbers the dog hate mail about 50 to 1. When it comes to cats, people are rarely ambivalent. Although millions adore cats, lots of people clearly don't care for the species some consider aloof.
Cats are second-class pet citizens -- they're the Rodney Dangerfield of pets. They get no respect.
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Cats in pop culture
Maybe it begins with how we're exposed to cats. Think about it: "Dogs have loyal and heroic icons like Rin Tin Tin, Old Yeller and Lassie," says Bob Rohde, president of the Dumb Friends League in Denver who last October organized a gathering there of shelter, veterinary and pet-product-industry leaders called "Rebranding Felix." On the cat side, there's Felix (sneaky, unpredictable) and Garfield (fat, lazy). "Both perpetuate negative stereotypes people have about cats," Rohde says.
Cats get dissed throughout popular culture: In the movie "Untraceable," which came out earlier this year, the plot revolves around a serial killer who posts live video of his victims being tortured to death on his website. The first victim is a stolen cat, whose feet are stuck to an electrified mat, preventing the feline from reaching a nearby bowl of milk. As more people hit the website, the frequency and intensity of electrical shocks increase, and soon the kitten dies.
I realize it's a horror movie, but I argue that you'd never see an electrocuted puppy. Electrocuted people, maybe. But not a puppy.
The examples aren't always so graphic, but they're everywhere -- from "Friends," when Phoebe disses cats ("It doesn't matter what happens -- it's only a cat"), to an episode this past season of "ER," when an old lady shows up at the emergency room with a cat in her bag (a doctor complains and then walks off muttering, "I hate cats").
In the forgettable 1997 Tim Allen flick "Jungle 2 Jungle," there's a scene in which his newfound son shoots a Persian cat with a dart gun -- and that's supposed to be funny.
So, do these cartoon, TV and movie depictions have an effect on us? "Of course, this all has an impact," says Amy Wallis, an organizational psychologist and animal behavior consultant. "It's really pretty clear -- cats are valued differently (than dogs)."
Veterinarian Valerie Creighton, president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP), goes further. "This is a crisis, and the statistics are a sobering wake-up call," she says.
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The disposable cat
Just 2% to 5% of lost cats at shelters are ever reclaimed.
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Everyone agrees there are too many dogs and cats in shelters. However, according to a 2006 survey by the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators, increasingly more cats are given up at shelters than their canine cousins.
"The reason cats are given up is sometimes pretty amazing," Rohde says. Indeed, shelter officials have told me of some explanations people have used for giving up their cats: "the cat doesn't match our new carpeting" or "my black cat sheds on my new white sofa."
Studies show that behavioral problems are the most common reasons both dogs and cats are relinquished to shelters. But, according to a 1997 survey by the National Council on Pet Population, cats are abandoned at shelters more often for behavioral issues than dogs (the complaint heard most often is that the cat misses the litter box).
Rohde believes that, to the general public, cats have less value than dogs. Another indication of this is that far more pet owners claim their lost or stolen dogs at shelters than cats. The Humane Society of the United States says an estimated 30% of those dogs who land in shelters eventually are reclaimed. Of the lost cats who find themselves in a shelter, a meager 2% to 5% are ever identified by their owners. Sadly, well over half those shelter cats are never adopted, and most are euthanized.
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Fewer vet visits and less research
The same rationale may be used, in part, to explain why cats don't see a veterinarian nearly as often as dogs. Vet visits for pet cats have fallen 11% since 2001, according to a new survey from the American Veterinary Medical Association, with more than a third of all cats never visiting a veterinarian in 2006 (compared with 17% of dogs who didn't see a vet). "Veterinarians can't treat clients we don't see," adds veterinarian Jane Brunt, AAFP past president.
Vets also can't treat what they don't know about. In a seemingly self-perpetuating cycle, far more dollars are spent on dog health issues than on cats. In 2008, the Morris Animal Foundation, a nonprofit funder of pet and wildlife health studies, is spending nearly three times as much on canine health initiatives as on cat health research. Even the scientists seem more interested in studying dogs; in 2008, there were more than 119 proposals submitted to Morris for grants to study dog health, three times more than proposals to study cats.
"Dogs are given preferential dollars for research," says veterinarian Anna Worth, president of the American Animal Hospital Association. "Veterinarians have more tools to treat dogs than cats. For example, while there is pain medication for cats, it's been slow in developing, and there haven't been as many options as there are for dogs."
Tired of that public cattitude, Brunt helped to organize the CATalyst Summit last February in Palm Springs, Calif. Participants included partners from industry -- Pfizer Animal Health, Hills Pet Nutrition and Pets Best Insurance -- with movers and shakers from the veterinary and shelter world and the Rebranding Felix group.
"We all agreed we have a major problem here," Brunt says. "We intend to reach out to veterinary professionals and to the public to communicate just how unique and wonderful cats are. Cats are absolutely spectacular. It's true they're not small dogs -- but the goal is to appreciate them for what they are. It's all about the cat, as individually devoted to their people as dogs, as affectionate and just as fun -- in a different way, but definitely fun."
The truth is, we don't have the same control when it comes to cats: We train dogs; cats train us. But that doesn't mean we can't respect that.
"I once believed all those myths about cats -- that was, until we got our first cat," Rohde says. "Gabe showed me what cats are really about."
Steve Dale is heard weekly on WGN Radio and on his syndicated radio shows, "Steve Dale's Pet World" and "The Pet Minute." He also writes a syndicated column, "My Pet World."
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Like cats, dogs get abandoned, too
An author shares his story.
We like to think of ourselves as a nation of animal lovers, but this report on cats and the Michael Vick dogfighting case show that sometimes we come up short. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that 6 to 8 million cats and dogs enter shelters each year, and, of this number, half are euthanized.
I have nothing against cats, but I'm an unreconstructed dog person. I got my first experience with the abuse and abandonment they can suffer when my wife and I found a 6-month-old puppy frantically searching for food in Central Park. He was stick thin, had cigarette burns all over his body and chewing gum stuck to what was left of his coat. We decided to keep him for the weekend and named him Roo because of his bounciness. He died in our arms 14 years later and is the inspiration for my book Waggit's Tale.
He was not an easy dog -- fearful of his own species and suspicious of ours -- but he was one of the most rewarding animals I've ever lived with. Rescued dogs never forget they were abandoned or that you saved them. They show gratitude and loyalty to a degree that repays the act of adoption many times over. What they need more than anything is security -- to know that their bad experiences will not be repeated. Obedience training helps because it shows them exactly their position within their new pack. Treats help, too -- bribery being a good foundation for any relationship with a dog. As for love -- well, that's easy. Look into those grateful brown eyes and try not to.
Peter Howe wrote the new novel "Waggit's Tale" (HarperCollins, $16.99).
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