U.S. dog and cat ownership
There are about 77.5 million owned dogs and 93.6 million owned cats in the United States.
39 percent of U.S. households own at least one dog, and 33 percent own a cat.
67 percent of dog owners have one dog, 24 percent have two, and 9 percent have three or more.
Fifty-six percent of cat owners own more than one cat, with an average of 2.45 cats per owner.
Source: 2009-2010 National Pet Owners Survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association
Do you have three dogs or four cats?
Depending on where you live in the Miami Valley, you may be in violation of your community’s zoning ordinance, which is usually a minor misdemeanor offense.
Bellbrook and Piqua do not allow “kennels” in any residential area, and they define a kennel as any premise where more than two dogs, two cats or one of each is kept. Bellbrook once allowed four dogs or cats, but the policy was changed to two in 1986, when, according to old meeting minutes, city officials cited an increase in animal complaints.
The residential limit varies by city, from three pets in Centerville and Carlisle, to four in Fairborn and Oakwood, and five in Kettering or Springboro. And some cities have further distinctions. Carlisle’s law only limits dogs. Beavercreek and some others require a kennel license for commercial breeding, but place no limit at all on residential pets.
“That’s why we put ‘commercial’ in the language,” Beavercreek City Planner Randall Burkett said. “We didn’t want to make a criminal out of somebody with three cats.”
Most cities have separate ordinances requiring proper care of animals and allowing citations for dogs running loose or barking loudly.
Bellbrook City Manager Mark Schlagheck acknowledged that while many residents know those laws, they were unaware of the numerical limit, noting that Bellbrook cited only four people in 2009 for having too many animals.
“(The number of animals) can be a quality of life issue, beyond any barking or mistreatment,” he said. “If every time you go in the back yard there are five dogs running down the fence line, that can be an issue, too.”
And Schlagheck said when police are called out on animal complaints, they have to enforce the laws as written, whatever that number is.
Bellbrook resident Ron Snyder said that’s how his problem started. A neighbor called police in November to complain about barking dogs. No citation was written for the noise, but the officer reported the presence of three animals to the city zoning office, which sent Snyder a violation notice.
Veterinarian Sue Rancurello, who runs Dr. Sue’s Animal Clinic in Bellbrook, said the number shouldn’t matter.
“I would hope the city would recognize whether appropriate care is being provided for the animals and not focus on the number,” she said. “The number of animals being relinquished to shelters right now due to foreclosures and the economy is staggering. To add to that (from people who want to keep their animals) is absurd.”
Bellbrook will soon hold a public hearing on raising its allowable number of pets to three. The Snyders and Rob and Yvonne Holton, who were cited for their three Siberian huskies, said they hope to get as many people as possible to the hearing.
Meantime, Yvonne Holton said she wants to stay in Bellbrook, but only if she can keep Gunn, Sasha and Echo.
“If the number isn’t increased, then we will be putting our home up for sale,” she said. “Our dogs mean more to us than anything, and I refuse to put one of them in an animal shelter where it could be put to sleep or given to someone who won’t take care of it. We rescued two of our dogs from bad living situations, so I will never put them in a situation where they could be neglected by someone again.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2278 or jkelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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