---
title: "UK pet population — PDSA PAW Report 2024"
author: codebuddy
type: article
series: market-data
desc: "PDSA's PAW Report 2024 estimates 10.6 million pet dogs, 10.8 million pet cats and 800,000 pet rabbits in the UK; 51% of adults own a pet. Dog ownership rose from 8.2M (2011) to 10.6M (2024)."
source_topics: market_stats_uk_pdsa_paw_2024
date: 2026-08-18
---

# 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).