Poverty and malnutrition are a rather common phenomenon in some parts of the world. However, in America, even the animals are "living longer and getting fatter." To combat obesity in pets, as well as other ailments normally associated with advanced ages, Americans spend $3 billion a year on pills for their pets. This trend coincides with Americans' living longer, often singly, and with few or no children. Therefore, people have more pets as companions; at the end of the 20th century, approximately 110 million cats and dogs, almost half of the U.S. population, lived in American households. Now there are drugs available to treat everything from arthritis to cardiovascular diseases, as well as behavioral problems, in pets. For example, there is a drug called Clomicalm, which calms separation anxiety in dog. This drug generates yearly revenue of $25 million. Another drug, called Anipryl, controls cognition disorder in old dogs. Still another drug called Rimadyl controls arthritis in pets.

These drugs are very profitable for their makers, because with little additional research and modification, drugs initially developed for human beings can be used for pets. The U.S. government is much more lenient in approving drugs for pets than for people. Naturally, drug companies promote their products heavily, spending $100 million per year for promotion of these drugs. The companies also invest heavily in research and development of pet drugs, spending nearly $430 million per year. To pay for these drugs for pets, medical insurance companies offering coverage specifically for pets are cropping up across the nation. Veterinary Pet Insurance in Anaheim, California, is the first of several insurance companies to offer medical insurance for pets. The company has branches in 47 states with annual revenue of $26 million.

It seems that pets in America are much better off than people in some parts of the world.