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American Morning

Which Cities Do Pets Love?

Aired August 14, 2001 - 11:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Animal lovers, this next story is for you. Of course, several lists out there that rank cities for quality of life. This list has gone to the dogs, literally. Ralston Purina's Pet Institute says if your pets had their choice, this is where they'd want to live, the top five cities -- Denver, Minneapolis, Columbus, Ohio, Philadelphia and Seattle.

The list of pet healthiest cities is based on a number of factors, including the ratio of vets to pets and a climate that is unfriendly to fleas.

Joining us from Denver, veterinarian Aine McCarthy, who is the executive director of Purina Pet Institute. Dr. McCarthy, as an owner of a four legged dog and a three legged cat, it is a pleasure to have you here with us this morning.

DR. AINE MCCARTHY, VETERINARIAN: Good morning, Daryn, to you and to your pets.

KAGAN: Thank you so much, and they're watching at home, I'm sure. There is, give us some of the other criteria besides vets to pets that you're looking for to get a pet friendly city.

MCCARTHY: Well, with this report, nothing like this has ever been done before. Nobody has ever really looked at the factors that really impact pets' health. So we looked at 50 different cities and we looked at 23 different criteria, everything from the ratio of veterinarians to pet, as you mentioned. But we looked at water quality and air quality. We looked at the level of access to specialists in veterinary medicine. We looked at the incidence of fleas and heartworm. We also looked at the type of legislation that a city would have on the books.

KAGAN: As a dog owner, I'd say I enjoyed -- this was something kind of simple -- but I enjoy a park that allows my dog to run off leash as long as she's under control.

MCCARTHY: Yes. That, whether or not the dog parks were located in a particular city was also one of the criteria that we looked at.

KAGAN: OK, let's look at some of the cities that did so well. Denver, Colorado, why did that come out number one?

MCCARTHY: Denver did well in just about every category that we looked at. Denver has the lowest veterinarian to pet ratio of any city, one veterinarian to 1,200 pets. The median in our study was about one to 2,000 pets. So they did very well there.

They also have a low incidence of fleas and heartworms. They got excellent scores on air and water quality.

KAGAN: Because they're high.

MCCARTHY: We also have a high level of veterinarians associated with the American Animal Hospital Association.

KAGAN: Let's move on to Minneapolis.

MCCARTHY: Minneapolis did wonderfully. They received high rankings for the College of Veterinary Medicine that's located at the University of Minnesota. They also, households in Minneapolis spend more on their pets than any city that we looked at.

KAGAN: Really?

MCCARTHY: An average -- yes. An average per year of $416 per pet.

KAGAN: Per pet?

MCCARTHY: Per pet.

KAGAN: That's a lot of biscuits, I've got to tell you.

MCCARTHY: Yes.

KAGAN: Columbus, Ohio.

MCCARTHY: Columbus, Ohio, pet owners in Columbus, Ohio have access to some of the top level of veterinary care in the whole country. There's a large number of board certified specialists in veterinary surgery and internal medicine and there's a large number of emergency clinics. The Ohio State University also has the College of Veterinary Medicine located there.

KAGAN: And quickly, is there a Web site where folks can check out some of these top cities?

MCCARTHY: Yes. All of the criteria, the results, the initiatives from the Purina Pet Institute are all on our Web site at purina.com.

KAGAN: Very easy to remember.

Doctor Aine McCarthy, thanks for helping us talk about our furry friends. Appreciate it. Good to see you.

MCCARTHY: Thank you very much.

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