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There may even be some parallel between the phenomenal growth of "petishism"—a term coined by Author Kathleen Szasz in a 1969 book of that title—and the increasing problems of the automobile industry. Certainly, the wizards of Detroit have never come up with a car that will wag its taillights or purr when nourished at the gas station. Many of the qualities once associated by psychologists with possession of a car—prestige, sexual potency, dominance—are not unlike those linked to pet ownership.
In recent years, the proliferation of pets also has been accompanied by a rising discontent with the disproportionate expense and nuisance that animals—or rather their owners—wreak on urban society. Dogs in cities can be man's worst friend. For all the private millions lavished on them, Canis urbanus remains a great burden on the public purse. Each day across the nation, dogs deposit an estimated 4 million tons of feces and 42 million quarts of urine on city streets and parks. Canine excrement is not only costly to clean up and revolting to wade through; it is also a health hazard. More than 100 human infections, from diphtheria to tuberculosis, can be picked up by animals and passed on to their owners. Dog defecation is also rich in toxocara (roundworm), which can cause blindness in children who grub in it. Many diseases are also transmitted by birds, turtles and other imported pets.
Neurotics. Should dogs even be allowed to live in cities? The controversy in New York City has sorely vexed politicians as the opposing ban-Bowser and save-our-pets factions battle for their support. One city official made so bold as to propose that dogs be restricted to alternate sides of the street on different days. "When it comes to the question of dog feces," said another official, with unwitting humor, "I consider myself a centrist." New York briefly tried installing dog toilets in parks and streets, but gave up when their intended patrons declined to cooperate.
To the outsider visiting Hong Kong or even New York's Chinatown, the scarcity of dogs and the cleanliness of sidewalks is immediately apparent. That is because, in most Oriental societies, dogs are regarded as predators rather than pets—or as a loping entree. In fact, the choice of "aromatic meat" most favored by Hong Kong gourmets is the chow. Chow mein, anyone?
If pets pose problems for humans, humans in turn create at least as many problems for pets. A major hazard for the loved one, particularly the dog, is that its humanization frequently produces all the symptoms of neurosis. An ever-increasing number of maladjusted animals are being treated in pet hospitals and by self-styled animal psychiatrists and behaviorists, many of them outright charlatans.