Ballooning dog and cat ownership (primarily dog ownership) in the UK has gone POP and is now going in reverse with rehoming centres bursting as puppy love turns to heartbreak mainly because of ‘dogflation’ and a post-Covid reality.
Here are some facts about the changing landscape of dog and cat ownership in the UK post-Covid which in summary tells a story of a greater number of relinquishments (abandonments) to animal rehoming shelters than normal in addition to less people adopting shelter animals. This is all in the name of money really as people grapple with the effects of inflation in the UK and the shortage of disposable income.
It’s also a return to normality if you like because the Covid pandemic created abnormal conditions in which millions of people were given furlough money for doing nothing for a very long time. That was the seed for growing the cat and dog ownership market.
Here are the facts in bullet style:
- One cat owner allowed her female cat to become pregnant, which because of a lack of disposable income she had to give up to Battersea. She could “no longer afford pet food”.
- Battersea successfully rehomed the female parent and her litter but there are hundreds of others with a less certain future.
- Another big cat charity, Cats Protection, report that the number of cats on waiting lists for rehoming exceed 3,000. This is the first time this has happened in 2023 and is 36% higher than the highest figure for the year before. It is 67% higher than in 2021.
- The proportion of owners who adopted shelter cats has fallen from 27% five years ago to 15% last year.
- UK dog population rose from 9 million before the Covid pandemic to 12 million but is now falling.
- The chief executive of Dogs Trust, Owen Sharp, said that the charity had received 4,198 enquiries in January from people asking how they could rehome their dog. In December of last year the charity had 3,277 enquiries.
- Dogs Trust expect higher figures this month and in March. They predict that those who received dogs over Christmas will give them up.
- Dogs Trust expect that they will exceed last year’s tally of 45,000 calls this year (2024).
- The charity rehomed 11,047 dogs and 2023 which is up from 10,454 in 2022.
- The charity said that the surge in dog ownership since 2020 came from people under the age of 35 which suggest that they were first-time adopters. They have less experience which can lead to caregiving problems.
- People under the age of 35 are more prone to economic pressures because their work may be more transient and they are more likely to live in rented accommodation or move home. They might be susceptible to landlord’s preferences of no pets.
- Owners who are short of money have to work longer hours which is bad for pets.
- Dogs Trust said that the 1,000 dogs on the waiting list to be rehomed have more complex behavioural problems than normal. They put this down to inexperienced owners and because of the daunting cost of medical treatments.
- The cost of pet essentials has increased by 9% which is higher than the consumer prices index inflation rate of 4%.
- It’s a combination of less experience in terms of dog and cat ownership combined with the higher cost of cat and dog ownership leading to what is said to be a “perfect storm” of pressures.
- On the positive side, there being more cats and dogs in shelters, there’s more choice for people who do want to adopt shelter animals and provide a secure and warm home.
- This extra supply of cats and dogs in shelters also mean that there are more purebred dogs compared to random bred dogs at shelters and therefore those people who want to live with a purebred dog can start off by going to a shelter.
- “If you are looking for a puppy, then it would be a good time to get a rescue puppy. It’s a concern from a dog welfare point of view, but for a prospective dog owner you have more choice.”
- If you are considering adopting a dog think about health as a priority and appearance as a secondary issue. Please check the link below to help guide you on what type of purebred dog you might like to select if available at a rescue center or if you want to purchase but it makes sense to rescue animals at this particular moment with a surplus in many shelters.
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