By DARLENE PRINCE
prince@crescent-news.com
When it comes to pets, some people like a cuddly kitten while others prefer a little more action with a puppy or adult dog that need to be taken for walks.
But in the pet business -- which is a big business worth at least $1 billion a year -- there are more than just dogs and cats. During National Pet Week, May 4-10, the extensive variety of pets is being recognized.
Some pet lovers prefer one of the many species of birds, such as parakeets, canaries, parrots, love birds or finches. For more adventurous pet owners, there are reptiles, including snakes, lizards and turtles. Slick little ferrets have their devoted owners as do the more cuddly hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits.
Moving on to the larger animals, there are goats, ponies, horses and even pot-bellied pigs, although that fad has kind of died down. And let's not forget chickens, which are the new fad and provide eggs to boot. Many people also enjoy various species of fresh-water and salt-water fish in their aquariums.
In Defiance, Town & Country Pets sells an assortment of animals. "We have puppies, adult cats from the Williams County Humane Society, snakes, bearded iguanas, turtles, parakeets, canaries, hamsters and fresh-water fish," said owner Wendy Sullivan.
"Our most popular dogs are York (Yorkshire) terriers," she said. "It is a smaller lap dog."
Sullivan noted that many customers like to look at Maxine, their large, scarlet macaw. "Maxine is not for sale, though. She is our mascot."
A lot of people come in for help with their pets that have allergies or skin problems, she added, stating there are specialty foods for those conditions.
At the Napoleon Veterinary Clinic, both large and small animals are treated. A spokesman said in addition to dogs and cats, the clinic treats snakes and birds while the large animal business takes care of goats, cattle and sheep, many of which are 4-H projects.
At the Bryan Area Animal Hospital, the most exotic animal that employees remember seeing was a cougar brought in by an area resident. (The animal's owner did have a legal permit for it.)
The cougar had crawled underneath a car and was accidentally run over by the vehicle. It was comatose for several days and then had to be put down.
At BA Reptiles in Defiance, a large collection of snakes and lizards is available.
Noting that ownership of reptiles is a popular hobby, business owner Chris Brown said, "I have two people who have $15,000 or $20,000 invested in their collection. I have a customer who paid $2,200 for a diamond python," he said. "My largest sale was $25,000 for a reticulated python. But, that snake is very rare."
Brown said many of his customers buy snakes as an investment. He said, for example, a breeder can invest $10,000 in a male and female snake and when they have their young, there can be 20 young snakes.
"They can sell each baby for $2,000," he said. "That's better than the stock market is doing right now."
While some of his reptiles are imported, he said most of his reptiles come from captive-bred animals.
"Some of my snakes come from the Indonesian islands," he said. "But others are strictly captive-bred. Australia will not let any of its animals be exported anymore. And neither will Peru, unless you can prove through paperwork that the animals are third-generation-captive bred.
"These countries are trying to protect their animals," he said. "Some of the Indonesian islands are just being destroyed with log cutting and loss of the habitat by people moving there.
"It may turn out that the only place some of these animals will be found in the future is in the collections of people in this country and other places," he speculated.
At Tammy's Pet Place in Ottawa, owner Tom Beemer said the business sells an assortment of small animals including hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits and fish.
"We also sell birds like cockatiels, love birds and parakeets," Beemer said. "We do not sell dogs and cats as we work with Putnam Pet Pals to get them adopted from the county dog pound.
"The only unusual pet we have had a request for would probably be a scorpion or a tarantula, and we do sell those," he said.
Taking care of pets is a big business in the United States. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, there are 72 million pet dogs and almost 82 million pet cats in the U.S. The average veterinary bill per household for all pets was $366 in 2006.
About 37 percent (43,021,000) of U.S. households own a dog and about 32 percent (37,460,000) own a cat. Around 4 1/2 million households own a bird while about two million households have a horse.
In addition to selling food and other products for pets, some businesses offer additional services such as grooming, pet-sitting and home delivery of products.
Pet Age Magazine noted this year that the interest in high-end boutique businesses for pets has reached a peak with many customers responding to harder economic times by going back to the basics of pet care for their animals.