The practice of prescribing medications designed for humans to animals
has grown substantially over the past decade and a half, and
pharmaceutical companies have recently begun experimenting with a more
direct strategy: marketing behavior-modification and "lifestyle" drugs
specifically for pets. America's animals, it seems, have very American
health problems. Dogs in USA live 13 years on average, considerably longer than
they did in the past; Pfizer's Anipryl treats cognitive dysfunction so
that absent-minded pets can remember the location of the supper bowl or
doggy door. For lonely dogs with separation anxiety, Eli Lily brought to market its own drug Reconcile last year. The only difference between it and Prozac is that Reconcile is chewable and tastes like beef. Marketers have a new name for the age-old tendency to view animals as
furry versions of ourselves: "humanization," a trend that is fueling
the explosive growth of the pet industry and the rise of modern pet
pharma. Americans forked over $49 billion for pet products and services
last year, up $11.5 billion from 2003; other than consumer electronics,
pet products are the fastest-growing retail segment. Humanization has pharmaceutical companies salivating like Pavlov's dogs.
Not very surprising...eh?!
Read the full story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/magazine/13pets-t.html?ref=magazine