Our Pets: Gold Mine for Jobs, New Businesses

The pet industry, from birds to 150-pound dogs, is a job hunter's and entrepreneur's dream.

Revenues for basic products and services total more than $45 billion. Those include food, bird cages, cute outfits, medical care, grooming, and boarding. And as pet parents continue to humanize their animal companions, new products and services are limited only by the creator's imagination. Remember when doggy day care didn't exist? Entrepreneurs who do grooming in the driveway with their portable vans are making a bundle, since pet parents can't bear to inflict separation anxiety on Fido.