More pets in the USA

The pet food segment, accounting for 40 per cent of this, increased its sales by 3.3 per cent in the period under review and is now worth 12.8 bn $. The number of pets also increased in 2003 by 1.3 per cent. There were 61.3 mio dogs in the USA, 1 per cent up on the previous year. 35.6 per cent of all American households own at least one dog. The number of cats rose by 1.9 per cent in the period under review to 78 mio. At least one cat is thus part of the household in 34.6 per cent of all homes in the USA.