Alfie, a cute fellow who loves attention, has two drawers full of designer duds that include a Burberry cap, Puma shirts, and Juicy Couture and Coach bags.
Christina Leonard spares no expense to spoil Alfie, and you can be sure this holiday season the 5-month-old Yorkshire terrier's stocking will be brimming with presents.
"I got him a Santa Claus hat, a reindeer ear," said Leonard, 27, of Elkridge. "I'm addicted. My husband looks at me and says, `You got it bad.'"
Step aside, kids. Adults are spoiling Fido or Kitty with gourmet treats, designer collars and other gift items this holiday season. Though animal lovers have always shown affection for their pets, industry experts say pet owners, especially of dogs and cats, are spending more on them as their relationship evolves.
This holiday alone, nearly 154 million pet owners are expected to spend $2.6 billion on pet gifts, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, a trade group in Greenwich, Conn.
Besides the big chains, PetSmart and Petco, discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Target have expanded their pet supply offerings, while designers such as Coach and Burberry offer chi-chi items.
"She's at the top of my list," Catonsville pet owner Margaret Morris said of Zoe, a 13-year-old Lhasa apso. "I have no kids. She is my kid. She's spoiled rotten."
At a time when pets are becoming a larger part of the family, buying holiday gifts for them is as normal as picking out presents for children and other relatives, said Dr. Marie Suthers-McCabe, a veterinarian and associate professor of human-companion-animal interaction at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.
"It's definitely an accepted thing, like you're not even thought of as being weird," said Suthers-McCabe, owner of a dog, three cats, four horses and three chickens. "Now, oh yeah, dog stockings, squeezy toys. They say dogs love unwrapping presents. It's becoming part of the holidays."
These days, pets sleep in bed with their owners, go on vacations with them and participate in other social activities. By nature, people want to nurture and feel connected to animals, especially as society has become more urbanized, Suthers-McCabe said.
As a result, the changing human-animal relationship has helped transform the pet industry in the past decade. Since 1994, sales of pet food, supplies, grooming and veterinary care have more than doubled to an estimated $35.9 billion this year, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.
