UK pet population — PDSA PAW Report 2024
The PDSA PAW Report 2024 (People's Dispensary for Sick Animals) is a first-hand, annually repeated UK pet-population survey with a consistent methodology since 2011, enabling year-on-year tracking.
Population estimates (2024)
- 10.6 million pet dogs
- 10.8 million pet cats
- 800,000 pet rabbits
Ownership prevalence
- 51% of UK adults own a pet of any type (a slight decrease from 53% in 2023).
- 28% of UK adults own a dog and 24% own a cat (neither significantly different from 2023).
Trends
- The dog population has grown steadily from 8.2 million (2011) to 10.6 million (2024) — the 2024 figure not statistically significantly different from 2023.
- The rabbit population fell from 1.1 million (2023) to 800,000 (2024); PDSA's linear-regression analysis shows no significant long-term trend.
Notes
PDSA is a UK veterinary charity; its text-based figures are used here for C1 verifiability. UK Pet Food (formerly PFMA) also publishes a Pet Population Report, but its headline counts are delivered as an image and are not extractable as text, so they are not quoted.
Sources
market_stats_uk_pdsa_paw_2024— PDSA PAW Report 2024: 10.6M pet dogs, 10.8M pet cats, 800k pet rabbits; 51% of adults own a pet (down from 53% in 2023); 28% own a dog, 24% a cat; dog population 8.2M (2011) → 10.6M (2024); rabbit 1.1M (2023) → 800k (2024).