Pet Ownership and Household Characteristics

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Characteristics of the Privately Owned Dog & Cat Population & Their Owners
City of Los Angeles

Report provided by the Humane America Animal Foundation. Figures are based upon results of a December 1999 random telephone survey
of 517 City of Los Angeles households. Interviews were conducted by Davis Research, LLC, in English and Spanish.

Privately Owned Dog & Cat Population in the City of Los Angeles

City of Los Angeles residents are much less likely to have dogs or cats than the national average. While the average
number of dogs per dog-owning household was close to the national average, the average number of cats per
cat-owning household was much lower.

Households	City of Los Angeles	National (based on 1998/1999 APPMA Pet Owners Study)
With at least one dog or cat	26.7%	---
With at least one dog	19.9%	39.1%
With at least one cat	13.0%	32.1%
With at least one dog and one cat	6.19%	---
Average number of dogs per dog-owning household	1.48	1.41
Average number of cats per cat-owning household	1.57	2.40

The following is an extrapolation of the total number of privately owned dogs and cats in the City of Los Angeles:

Number of dogs	367,000
Number of cats	254,000

Estimated Number of Dog, Cat & Bird-Owning Households in Los Angeles County

xxx

Characteristics of Dog & Cat Owning Households in the City of Los Angeles
Percentages shown in the following tables are that of all households regardless of pet ownership.

Dog or cat ownership is strongly affected by the ethnic background of a household.

Household	Ethnic background
Household	Caucasian	Hispanic	Asian	African-American	Other
Has a dog	33.1%	14.1%	8.3%	16.7%	5.3%
Has a cat	25.5%	5.7%	2.8%	10.0%	15.8%
Has an unaltered pet	13.4%	8.1%	2.8%	10.0%	10.5%

Households with older people are more likely to have cats, but age does not appear to strongly determine whether
a household has a dog.

Household	Age Group
Household	Under 25	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+
Has a dog	23.4%	19.6%	21.1%	25.4%	21.9%	9.3%
Has a cat	10.5%	7.0%	13.7%	22.4%	15.6%	14.0%

Families with young children are less likely to have dogs or cats, but that changes as the children get older,
especially after age 13.

Children in Household	Has a Dog	Has a Cat
None	21.6%	15.7%
Under 3 years	10.3%	7.7%
3 to 7 yrs	7.4%	3.7%
8 to 13 yrs	20.3%	15.3%
14 to 18 yrs	39.1%	19.6%

Households that are homeowners (as opposed to renters) are more likely to have a dog or cat.

Household	Owners	Renters
Has a dog	40.2%	9.2%
Has a cat	20.6%	8.7%

Source: Humane America Animal Foundation

There are more than 2.6 million privately-owned cats and dogs in Los Angeles County. As for
"exotic" pets, more than 90 percent are reptiles.

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