3/86Number of U.S. pet cemeteries: 400

International Pet Cemetery Association (South Bend, Ind.)

12/87Price of Pet Rest—a casket, body bag, sympathy card, and memorial-service text—for a guinea pig: $14.99

Pet Rest, Inc. (Lima, Ohio)

6/88Price of Video Dog, a tape offering the “experience of owning a pet without the mess and inconvenience”: $19.95

Creative Programming (N.Y.C.)

    Price of Video Baby: $19.95

Creative Programming (N.Y.C.)

7/88Number of Soviets in Petrozavodsk who were crushed to death in liquor-store lines last year: 3

Sovetskaya Rossiya (Moscow)/Ann Cooper, National Public Radio (Moscow)

12/89Number of pet-death support groups in the United States: 35

The Delta Society (Renton, Washington)

12/89Number of pets blessed at the Feast of St. Francis at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine this fall: 1,000

Cathedral of St. John the Divine (New York City)

    Number of bowls of algae: 1

Cathedral of St. John the Divine (New York City)

8/89Percentage of tropical fish owners in Iowa who say they would like their pets to be more affectionate: 40

Des Moines Register Iowa Poll

7/90Percentage of American pet owners who keep a photograph of their pet in their wallet: 40

Center for Interaction of Animals and Society, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)

9/90Number of calls the Illinois Animal Poison Information Center received last year regarding pets swallowing marijuana: 68

Illinois Animal Poison Information Center (Chicago)

1/91Total contributions by individuals in 1989 to New York City’s Bide-a-Wee Home Association for pets: $1,700,000

Bide-a-Wee Home Association (N.Y.C.)

    Total contributions by individuals in 1989 to New York City’s Coalition for the Homeless: $622,000

Coalition for the Homeless (N.Y.C.)

12/91Price of a deluxe model Jog-A-Dog, a treadmill for pets: $1,695

Jog-A-Dog, Inc. (Genoa, Ohio)

5/92Price of Video Catnip, a 25-minute video of birds, squirrels, and chipmunks, from Pet Avision: $19.95

Pet Avision (Morgantown, W. Va.)

3/94Maximum number of four-legged pets a resident of West University Place, Texas, is allowed to own: 3

West University Place City Hall (Texas)

    Maximum height, in inches, a resident’s grass may grow there: 10

West University Place City Hall (Texas)

9/94Amount Wayne Newton spent last year refurbishing his pet penguins’ pond on his Nevada ranch: $75,000

Associated Press (Reno, Nev.)

12/98Fee that an anonymous family has paid Texas A&M University to clone their pet collie mix, Missy: $2,300,000

Texas A&M University (College Station, Tex.)

8/02Amount a Spanish inventor charges per month to lease a front-loading 37-nozzle pet-washing machine: $600

Lavakan USA, Inc. (Miami, Fla.)

2/03Minimum number of neutered pets worldwide that have been implanted with fake testicles: 100,000

Neuticles (Independence, Mo.)

12/05Number of U.S. states with legally enforceable trust laws for pets: 30

Gerry Beyer, Texas Tech University School of Law (Lubbock)

10/06Ratio of the estimated number of tigers living in the wild to the number living as U.S. pets: 1:1

World Wildlife Fund (Washington)/The Humane Society of the United States (Washington)

9/07Minimum number of U.S. corporations that offer pet insurance to employees: 1,600

VPI Pet Insurance (Brea, Calif.)

9/07Number of U.S. states that have added pets to their domestic-violence laws: 6

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (N.Y.C.)