Denver ranks healthiest city for pets - Your Life - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), May, 2002

Senior citizens might choose Phoenix, Ariz. Politicians might select Washington, D.C. However, where would your dog or cat live if it had the choice? According to the nation's leading pet experts, the first choice would be Denver, Colo.

The Purina Pet Institute's Healthy Pets 21 Consortium, a think tank of leaders in the pet health and welfare community, has issued a list of the "Pet Healthiest Cities in the U.S." They exemplify superior care, services, and legislation for pets' health and well-being. According to the Consortium, the top five are, Denver; Minneapolis, Minn.; Columbus, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Seattle, Wash.

To determine the Pet Healthiest Cities, the Consortium developed an extensive list of 23 objective criteria in the areas of canine/feline health, legislation, and services, which were then weighted according to their importance in furthering pet health. The criteria included:

Health--veterinarian-to-pet ratios, presence of accredited staff at accredited veterinary hospitals, number of veterinary surgeons, access to emergency veterinary care, and environmental factors such as watershed quality and air pollution

Services--number of certified shelters, average annual pet-related expenditures, top-rated dog shows, and people working with their pets to help others through animal-assistance programs

Legislation--presence of appropriate rabies vaccination and pet identification requirements, licensing fee reductions for spayed/neutered pets, and cruelty investigation programs.

"Through the Consortium members' knowledge and breadth of expertise, we identified a multitude of factors that contribute to pet health --some obvious and some not so obvious? indicates Aine McCarthy, executive director of the Purina Pet Institute. "For instance, watershed quality may seem like a small point. But drinking water is the main source of hydration your pet receives, so if that quality is poor, it can affect a pet's health."

Denver rose to the top as the Pet Healthiest City because of its veterinarian-to-pet ratio, with one veterinarian for every 1,200 pets, as well as its 47 American Animal Hospital Association-accredited hospitals with 119 AAHA accredited veterinary professionals--more than any other city in the report. The ranking for Denver is also boosted by its access to veterinary specialists and emergency clinics. In addition, Denver boasts the lowest flea population of any city in the report, and the watershed quality rates high.