Pet
Food
Review

Pet Population

In 2010, the UK dog and population is around 8 million of each. In the UK, almost 1 in 2 households own a pet (47% = 13M), with around a total 24 million pets owned (excluding fish).

In 2008 the main source in which owners aquire their dogs were:

Rescue Centre: 32%
Friend/acquiantance: 25%
Recommended Breeder: 16%
Private Ad: 16%
Internet: 8%
Pet Shop: 7%

Top 10 Pets in the UK for 2010

The Top 10 Pets in the UK for 2010, starting with the most popular, are:
(the total number of species, rounded in Millions)

Fish (over 40.0M) Indoor and Outdoor)

Dogs (around 8.0M)

Cats (around 8.0M)

Rabbits (around 1.0M)

Birds (around 1.0M - Indoor)

Domestic Fowl (around 1.0M)

Guinea Pigs (around 0.7M)

Hamsters (around 0.4M)

Horses/Ponies (around 0.3M)

Frogs/Toads (around 0.3M)

Top 10 Dogs in the UK in 2010

Labrador (0.6M)

Border Collie (0.6M)

Jack Russell Terrier (0.5M)

Yorkshire Terrier (0.4M)

German Shepherd (0.3M)

Bischon Frise (0.2M)

Rottweiler/ Dalmation (0.1M)

Cocker Spaniel/ Shitzu (0.1M)

Labradoodle/ Golden Retriever (0.1M)

Greyhound (incorporating Whippets)/ Chihuahua (0.1M)

Top 5 Cats in the UK in 2008

Bengal (0.1M)

British Short Hair (0.1M)

Burmese (0.1M)

Manx (0.1M)

Siamese (0.1M)

NB: There was 0.6M Pedigree and 6.6M Non- Pedigree cat in the UK

Please note: 2008 was the first year that we have looked at the top 5 cats and the sample size was fairly low. This means that there was always a higher level of statistical uncertainty but for general reference you may find these results useful.
(ref:PFMA/TNS)

Rabbits

It is estimated that there are between 1.6 and 2 million pet rabbits in the UK.

In 2004, 4.6% of UK households owned a rabbit

There are 67 breeds and 531 varieties of rabbit. The smallest breed is the Netherland Dwarf Rabbit, weighing just 1kg when fully grown, and one of the largest is the Flemish Giant Rabbit, which weighs up to 6kg.

Rabbits usually live to about seven or eight years old, but many live over 10 years

A rabbit chews 120 times a minute and has 17,000 tastebuds. That's 7,000 more than humans and 15,000 more than dogs

Litters usually contain between six and eight kittens. However, the largest litter ever recorded had 24 kittens

Pet Names

Pet names are being influenced by celebrity figures across TV, film and sport. Lord of the Rings characters have also become popular, with nearly 500 pets named Pippin and over 100 Gandalf insured with Direct Line alone.

Other pets with celebrity names insured with Direct Line include six Dumbledore's, four Harry Potter's, four Beyonce's, two Miriah's and fifteen Whitney's. Naming our pets after celebrities is a growing trend and the Direct Line research has thrown up some interesting results – from the Great Dane named Gandalf The Great, to the moggy called 50 Cent

How our pet ownership affects the way food companies target pet lovers

Total retail value sales for pet food and pet care products in the UK approached £2.6 billion in 2006 per Euromonitor International's latest research. This represents growth of more than 5% from the previous year.

With pet anthropomorphism gathering pace in the UK, manufacturers are increasingly able to persuade pet owners to trade up to the super-premium and premium products that have driven value sales growth in recent years. Consumers are driving this demand as they are increasingly aware of their pet's nutritional requirements.

In the UK, value sales for premium dog and cat food grew 9.2% during 2006 to £655 million. This growth has been driven by a raft of new health focused multi-functional foods aimed at weight management and improving pets' paws, claws, eyes, coats, skin, teeth, digestive health, and brain power. Key terms appearing on packaging have included omega 3 & 6, macro-nutrient profile, wheat and gluten free, and hypoallergenic.

2006 also saw significant innovation for pet life-stage and life-style products. Greater UK consumer interest for such products proved especially beneficial to Masterfoods' Whiskas cat food brand, which increased its share of total premium dog and cat food nearly 2 percentage points to claim 19.4% of value sales according to Euromonitor International research.

If you want to know the size of the pet food market in the UK then follow this link

source: PFMA, Euromonitor, Direct Line insurance