Rusty Saber: 'Parents' spare no expense on their pampered pets

Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.

It's a fact. People adore their pets.

Here's an example: Of all the Rusty Saber columns, the one best remembered by readers, was written in 1983 about the death of our 17-year-old dog, Sammy. Dog lovers still mention it to me. Pets, be they dogs, cats, birds, gerbils or whatever, are beloved by their owners.

Pet day-care centers have been around for awhile. I always thought pet day-care centers were fenced-in backyards, dog houses, cages or cat litter boxes. Not so today. Guilty owners try to make amends for leaving their pets alone by taking them to sitters. However, pet devotion doesn't stop with day-care centers.

According to the Wall Street Journal, pet owners are spending serious money on gadgets to mollify pets left at home alone in order to assuage owners' collective guilt.

Americans annually spend $7 billion on pet supplies, and a total of $30 billion is spent on pets overall, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, exceeds the amount spent on toys for human children.

People take their pets seriously, indeed. An example of just how serious: $15 will buy the "Talk to Me Treatball." This gadget contains a digital chip that enables owners to leave recorded messages to their dogs, and new messages can be recorded by phone. In addition, the contraption dispenses doggie treats. Imagine that!

Even when pet owners aren't away from home, high-tech toys can light up a dog's life. Should the dog owner be tired after a hard day, he or she can relax while a gadget called "GoDogGo" will toss a ball for the dog to fetch. The flaw is that the dog must be smart enough to return the ball; otherwise, the game of fetch ends very soon. Owners of such dogs may want to save the $130 for this remote-controlled thingamajig.

Bird owners can own "Mirror Mate", a talking mirror with which recorded messages from the owner are heard by the bird when it faces the mirror.

A cat-only device is the "Litter Free Cat Box." This thing automatically flushes cat waste from the litter box and then cleans it. This isn't your garden variety self-cleaning litter box. This thing is hooked up to the plumbing and electricity of the home. It's the real deal, and can be had for $300.

Another cat doodad is a $30 toy called "Panic Mouse." After being voted the best new toy at a cat product trade show, the entire stock of 25,000 were sold. Heck, I didn't know there was such a thing as a cat product trade show. The "Panic Mouse" flips string around in a random manner to keep a cat playing with the string for up to 30 hours.

The "Autopetfeeder"($110) can feed dogs or cats automatically. It is a programmable dispenser, providing up to eight portions a day. This device can be programmed to feed pets for long periods of time, but in event of a power failure, Fido or Garfield goes hungry.

According to the Wall Street Journal, there are 63 million pet-owning households in the United States and many think of their pets as children. A total of 83 percent of pet owners report that they refer to themselves as their pet's "Mom" or "Dad."

These pet owners shamelessly spoil their "kids." They also add a significant uplift to the economy. Not a bad trade off.