WHY THE WORLD IS GOING TO THE DOGS (AND CATS)

A new kind of family planning is taking place: Adopt a dog or cat and postpone the baby.

Dog and cat populations are growing all over the world at the same time that many countries are having great difficulty producing enough babies to maintain native populations. France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA are all in a baby recession. But the same countries are experiencing a pet boom.

With special pet care health practices, Japan has extended the average life spans of its cats from 5.5 years to 9.1 years. Veterinary science is advancing all over the world. Pet surgeons and psychologists are now quite common. Your pet can enjoy a personal trainer ... even yoga classes.

Pets have graduated from "member of the family" status. They are now the family's children.

Why are families switching from babies to cats and dogs? There are eleven reasons:

1. You can adopt or buy a dog or cat in a matter of minutes. There's no nine-month gestation period.

2. Pets don't require women to jump off the career track and settle for the "mommy" track.

3. It's much cheaper and easier to find day care for dogs than infants. And cats do not require day care at all.

4. Education is much cheaper. Obedience training costs are a small fraction of sending a child to Harvard.

5. Animals don't require two o'clock feedings.

6. Cats and dogs don't go through the "terrible twos."

7. Your favorite pet will never become a teenager.

8. A dog will give you undying love and loyalty. (Cats, while more independent, are still better than teens in this category.)

9. It's hard to find doctors for kids, but veterinarians are plentiful.

10. Your dog and cat will never take six years for a college degree and then bounce back to mooch off you for for another few years.

11. When your pet reaches the stage of terminal pain and suffering, every vet in the world is a legal Dr. Kevorkian. This spares you the pain of watching a loved one suffer.

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