The rate of pet ownership in Minnesota ranks among the lowest in the nation, according to survey data released from the American Veterinary Medical Association.
The U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook study assessed that approximately 53 percent of Minnesota households owned a pet in 2011. That percentage places the state at 42nd for pet ownership in the nation. As a comparison, almost 71 percent of households in the top pet-loving state of Vermont shared their home with a pet in 2011.
When broken down by types of pets, Minnesota was ranked at eighth lowest for dog ownership in 2011, with 31.9 percent of households having a canine. The top dog-loving state in the nation is Arkansas, where at 47.9 percent, nearly half of all households had a hound.
The number of cats in Minnesota is higher than the number of dogs. However, the cat ownership rate here is even lower than dogs at 29.7 percent of households. That led to a ranking of 32nd for cat ownership in 2011.
Nationwide, the number of households that had pets dropped between the years of 2006 and 2011. The amount of pet dogs in the nation dropped 3 percent to 70 million throughout those years. The amount of pet cats declined 9.3 percent to 75 million during the same time period. There aren’t just fewer dogs and cats in the states, though: Bird ownership dropped more than 20 percent and horse ownership dropped nearly 17 percent. The AVMA study said this was a direct consequence of the recession.
In Minnesota, thought, the decline was much more pronounced. From 2006 to 2011, the number of cats in the state declined 16 percent to 1,264,000. The amount of pet dogs in Minnesota declined 6.4 percent to 934,000 in 2011.
There are some explanations for why pet ownership is lower in Minnesota. The state is more urban than such top pet-owning states as South Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho. Pet ownership tends to be lower in urban areas and big cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul. With the top dog-owning states all located in the South or Southwest, Minnesota’s cold winters may also be a contributing factor to lower dog ownership in the state.
The study was based on an email survey with more than 50,000 responses, conducted in early 2012 of randomly chosen households in the country. The information is used as a Statistical Abstract for pets in the United States.
Source: Minnesota's pet ownership goes to the dogs
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