toledoblade.com --

AMERICANS love their pets, but how many would be willing to perform mouth-to-mutt resuscitation to save the life of man's best friend? The Associated Press and Petside.com decided recently to find out the answer to that and other burning questions about the depth of our devotion to our pets, and some of the answers were surprising.

What they found was that 58 percent of respondents were at least somewhat likely to share with their pets the breath of life, while only 24 percent rejected the idea outright. One person responding to the report on Petside.com said she gave her cat mouth-to-mouth for some 10 minutes, saving the favored feline's life. Be warned, however: She also said that a cat nose tastes awful.

Fido has a better chance of surviving a respiratory emergency than Mittens, however, as 62 percent of dog owners versus only 53 percent of cat owners said they would go mouth-to-mouth with their four-legged companion. It was unclear whether this was indicative of the superiority of dogs or their owners.

Perhaps more interesting was the fact that while many owners were willing to go to extreme lengths to save their pets from harm, too few took practical steps to safeguard their furry friends.

For example, 70 percent of owners take their pets for rides in the car or truck, but the vast majority those who do (68 percent) don't restrain the animal, putting it at great risk of injury. One out of six who let their pet come along for the ride also admitted doing a Finkbeiner and leaving the dog or cat alone in the vehicle.

Few owners thought of their pets in emergency planning either. Animal lovers were appalled by the number of dogs and cats left behind when families fled flooding along America's Gulf Coast during the devastating hurricanes of 2005. Yet fewer than half the respondents to the AP survey had fire or disaster evacuation plans that took pets into account, and only one in five had a pet first aid kit in their home.

Despite the "yuk!" factor, it is gratifying to know that so many Americans would perform CPR on their pet. But it would be better if more people did the little things to keep Max, Tiger, Buddy, and Boots safe from harm.