There was never any doubt about what to do in Tarry Hueffmeier's mind when her beloved dog, Sarah, was injured in a fall that paralyzed her hind legs.
In the past two years, Hueffmeier has shelled out $3,000 for traditional and alternative veterinary care for the Shih Tzu including surgery, acupuncture and herbal treatments.The Salt Lake woman also bought a little cartlike device to strap on the dog's hindquarters so she can walk, as well as two sling-type dog carriers so Hueffmeier can carry Sarah on hiking trips.
Since Sarah's bowels and bladder don't work on their own, Hueffmeier also expresses Sarah's waste four or five times a day.
A lot of people said Sarah should just be put down when the injury occurred, but Hueffmeier rejected that and thinks other pet owners would feel the same way.
"If your child was paralyzed, would you even consider putting it to sleep? That's how we feel about our pets," she said.
All this for a dog?
Why?
"She's my heart," Hueffmeier said. "I just cry when I say that. She is the most precious thing in my world."
Hueffmeier's world is not some empty place, and she's not an idle person. She has a job, friends, a social life, lots of travel and a genuine love for such outdoor sports as river running and backpacking.
She's just an animal lover, like many Americans.
An estimated 58.2 million U.S. households own at least one pet, according to a new demographic source book published by the American Veterinary Medical Association's Center for Information Management.
More of those households own dogs (31.6 percent), but many own cats (27.3 percent).
The Rocky Mountain area has the greatest level of pet ownership in the nation, according to the publication.
The fact that people love their pets comes as no surprise to veterinarian Donald Renda of the Sandy Animal Clinic. He's been a veterinarian for 37 years and can rattle off many instances where people went to great lengths to take care of their animals.
For example, a lot of people give insulin shots to diabetic cats and dogs as well as check their blood glucose.
"We also have dogs with sunburn problems on their ear tips and noses and people faithfully put on sunscreen to avoid skin cancer," Renda said.
The interaction between an animal and a human can be therapeutic and rewarding, according to Renda, who regularly examines and vaccinates dogs that are used by handicapped people to do a wide range of chores.
"We have one client in a wheelchair and the dog is trained to fetch things for him, open the door and do all the things this person can't do," he said. "I hear all the time how people will give credit to their pet for helping them through a serious illness. Pets are extremely beneficial in the recovery mode and the long-term outlook for folks who are bedridden."
Renda gets Christmas cards every year from clients who pose with their animals - complete with holiday costumes. "(Sometimes) the pets are dressed up with little reindeer antlers on. Their pets are very much a part of their family. They even have birthday parties for their pets."
Being an animal lover is something that seems to grow on people.
Patti Abbott, a dog groomer at VCA All Pet Animal Hospitals in Sandy, fell in love with standard poodles when she attended grooming school at age 17. "It took me five years to get one and I've just kind of accumulated the rest of them," she said of her four poodles: Marina, Haily, Dallas and Summer.
Summer recently had 10 puppies and can't nurse them all so Abbott bottle feeds them every four hours.
She also has cats and birds and takes in homeless, sick or injured animals to find homes for them. Just last week, she found an owner for a cat she had taken in when it was lost and starving. Another three-legged kitten was rescued from a building that was about to be demolished, but Abbott thinks she'll keep that one.
Why do people love their pets so much?
"They give you unconditional love and companionship," Abbott said. "When you're feeling down, they're there for you and you're never alone."
She has observed that people who have children treat their pets very well, but people who don't have children treat their pets as children.
"People who don't have children are extremely overprotective of their pets, as if they were a human child," she said.
She admits her own poodles are pampered. "I dress them up in little sweaters and brush their hair and teeth and take them for walks and buy them too much junk," Abbot said, laughing.
This is all good fun for her and it makes her happy.
But some people believe animal aficionados go just a little too far when indulging animals.
A trip through any giant Petsmart store shows there is all manner of stuff to buy for every possible domesticated critter.
Take the Kozy Kage Ferret Sleep Sack, a fleece-lined sling to hang in a ferret's cage. Price: $15.99. The label says it provides a "comfortable, cozy and secure area for lounging and sleeping" that is similar to ferret burrows in the wild.
There's a whole aisle of pet Christmas stockings and ornaments. You can purchase a DogLoo insulated pet shelter in the "new giant size" of 48 inches in diameter. There also are plush fabric-covered scratching posts for cats shaped like houses with a variety of climbing and and perching areas. One costs $189.99.
Petsmart also offers a $1.49 catnip mouse and a $2.39 carrot-shaped Veggie Holder to stick on the side of the cage for rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas.
But for those who think pet lovers are flaky, there are some sobering facts: studies have linked juvenile animal cruelty with adult criminal behavior.
Notorious killers such as Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Richard Allen Davis (who murdered Polly Klaas) had long histories of burning, maiming and killing dogs and cats. One Yale University study showed 80 percent of convicted violent criminals had a history of animal cruelty.
In San Francisco, animal control officers are trained to look for signs of child abuse in households with animal abuse because the two so often go hand in hand.
Renda of the Sandy Animal Clinic agrees with this. "Animal abuse is not far removed from human abuse, whether it's child abuse, elder abuse. There is a real pattern along those lines."