More cats and dogs in the UK

A new study has found that the UK domestic cat and dog population is larger than previously reported by industry figures. The paper published in the Veterinary Record by Dr Jane Murray and colleagues at the Department of Clinical Veterinary Science at Bristol University aimed to estimate the number of domestic cats and dogs and identify the characteristics of their owners.

In 2007, a telephone survey of households randomly selected from the electoral roll revealed that cats and dogs were owned by 26 per cent and 31 per cent of households respectively. UK census information and mid-year population estimates of the number of households and the average household size in 2006 in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were used to estimate that UK households owned approximately 10.3 million cats and 10.5 million dogs in 2006.

The researchers recommend repeating the study in 2011 (the year of the next scheduled UK census), as any increase or decrease in population numbers will enable pet ownership trends to be monitored.