PFMA announces the UK’s top ten pets

The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA), located in the UK, announces the results of its annual pet population survey of 8,000 households.

Data confirms a stable population of 12 million pet owning households in the UK (41%).

“Over recent months, our lives have been disrupted by unprecedented social, economic and emotional challenges as a result of COVID-19,” said Michael Bellingham, chief executive of PFMA. “Throughout this period, the tremendous support provided by our pets has been widely documented. Pets have helped many of us navigate these strange times by bringing much needed comfort, happiness and routine.”

Trends expert, Joeri Van den Bergh, looked at the impact of COVID-19 on pet owners.

“In our COVID-19 lockdown research we witnessed confined pet owners paying extra attention to physical and mental wellbeing by playing with their cats and walking their dogs,” Van den Bergh said. “Many mentioned having more time with their pets as the positive side of working remotely from home. With restricted contacts, pets turned out to be even more important companions than ever before, providing a welcomed alternative for hugs from our human but distant friends and relatives.”

Fifty years ago, the budgerigar was the UK’s third most popular pet and there were only 5.1 million dogs and 4.6 million cats. Since then, the dog population has grown 76% and cat population has grown 63%. These figures transcend growth in the human population, which is 19% over 50 years. Dogs have predominantly held on to the No. 1 spot through the years, although cats did claw their way to No. 1 over the millennium.

For all statistics here