Dogs Are the Most Popular Pet in the UK, Owned by 34% of Households. According to a post written by the UK pet food association PFMA, dogs are the most popular pet across the United Kingdom. There are approximately 10 million homes that have at least one dog.
Dogs are the most popular pet in the U.S. (65.1 million U.S. households own a dog), followed by cats (46.5 million households) and freshwater fish (11.1 million households).
Our 2023 findings showed that:
29% of UK adults have a dog - an estimated population of 11 million pet dogs. 24% of the UK adult population have a cat - an estimated population of 11 million pet cats. 2% of the UK adult population have a rabbit - an estimated population of 1.1 million pet rabbits.
Ten million or 34% of UK households share their space with a pooch. In families with children, at least 77% have a pet which is a 12% increase over 2021 based on the PFMA survey. Ten million, 34% of UK households, own a dog, compared to 28% (8.2 million) owning a cat.
3rd Rabbits
Rabbits are loving, social animals, and make great companions. Most love human interaction and most will bond closely with their owners. Rabbits usually need less space than cats or dogs, and are happy to live inside or outside, depending on the weather and if they have suitable shelter.
Field vole
Cute and in huge numbers, but rarely seen. The grass-tunnelling field vole is our most abundant mammal and represents a vital link in the food chain.
1. Labrador Retriever. This British breed has been top of the list or thereabouts for decades now and was originally developed from fishing dogs originating in the Labrador region of Newfoundland in Canada.
You cannot bring more than 5 pets to Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) unless you're attending or training for a competition, show, sporting event.
A new report released Tuesday by Pethadoop, a platform specializing in China's pet industry, said cats accounted for 59.5% of all the pets among the 30,000 respondents surveyed for the research. As of last year, there were some 58 million pet cats in China's urban households, compared with some 54 million pet dogs.
2. Cats. Cats are number two on the list, with31.9 million feline owners.Cat ownership provides many of the same benefits as dog ownership but with less maintenance.
Sadly, it is currently legal to keep almost any animal as a pet in the UK unless there is legislation in place which specifically bans the keeping of that breed or species.
It should come as no surprise that the most popular pet in the world is the dog. There is a reason why people say the dogs are a man's best friend, and there are tens of millions of them living in the United States alone. Globally, approximately one-third of all households in the world have at least one dog.
#1: Dogs. Dogs are the most popular pet in the world.
Despite being the third most popular pet in the UK, rabbits are among the most abused and neglected. Too many spend miserable lives confined to a hutch, alone and with little or no space to exercise. And around 67,000 rabbits a year end up in rescue centres.
Dogs, for example, were held to have virtuous characteristics that echoed the values of the Victorian human world – they were seen as steadfast, loyal and courageous. In the popular painting by Briton Riviere to the right, a little girl, perhaps banished to the naughty step, is accompanied by a faithful dog.
The share of households owning a pet in the UK remained relatively stable between 2011/12 and 2019/20, hovering around 45%; however, this changed significantly during the pandemic, which saw a rise to an unprecedented high of 59% in 2020/21.
In the United Kingdom, more than six in ten households (62%) own some kind of pet. Adapted from a press release: In the United Kingdom, more than six in ten households (62%) own some kind of pet, according to the UK Pet Food Manufacturers' Association (PFMA). PFMA conducted a survey of nearly 9,000 UK households.
Regional dog population in Great Britain
According to the results of the 2017/18/19 survey, the largest number of dogs lives in South East and North West (1.1 million dogs).
You might notice that Birmingham has the most cats out of every single other area in the UK and the Channel Islands. You might also notice that people in Guildford LOVE their pedigree chums - there are over 7,000 microchipped pedigree cats in Guildford, and Burmese cats are the most popular breed.
The top dog breed in the UK in 2021, as measured by number of registrations, was the Labrador Retriever breed.