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By the end of Saturday 8 May 2004 when the survey and test systems were closed, 51365 people had contributed to the survey. 48,243 of those had completed it on the website, 2217 in the Radio Times and 905 via our phone line. We also had 32,629 test results from the website, and 3470 text messages about 'Pet TV'.
The overwhelming majority of responses were from 27,363 dog owners, followed by 14,917 cat owners. The survey also featured 2,273 rabbits, 1,757 hamsters, 482 parrots and macaws, 233 ferrets, 81 donkeys and 47 newts and salamanders. Hamsters, gerbils and guinea pigs were more represented amongst the under-11 owners.
The average number of pets per household was 3.7. Over a third of respondents had one pet, nearly a quater had two, only 10% had more than seven, but one person claimed they had 204!
77% of respondents were female, 23% male, and the largest age group that participated was 12-19 year olds. There were some variations in pet keeping in different regions of the UK, but nothing that was significant.
There were more male dog owners, and more female cat owners. Also, more men owned ferrets and lizards, while horse and rat owners tended to be female.
The cats in the survey were mainly mixed breeds (85% vs 15% pedigree), whilst dogs were mainly pedigree (64% vs 36% mixed).
| The top 10 dog breeds featured in the survey |
- Retriever (Labrador) - 12.6% (2,410 dogs)
- Border Collie - 10.1% (1,939)
- Retriever (Golden) - 5.7% (1,082)
- German Shepherd Dog (Alsatian) - 5.5% (1,058)
- Spaniel (English Springer) - 4.7% (893)
- Spaniel (Cocker) - 4.5% (854)
- West Highland White Terrier - 4.1% (782)
- Staffordshire Bull Terrier - 3.5% (668)
- Yorkshire Terrier - 3.2% (613)
- Cavalier King Charles Spaniel - 3.1% (585)
| The top 10 cat breeds featured in the survey |
- British Shorthair - 40.5% (1,586)
- Oriental Tabby - 8.8% (346)
- Persian - 7.0% (275)
- Siamese - 5.9% (233)
- Burmese - 5.3% (206)
- Maine Coon - 4.0% (157)
- Bengal - 2.7% (107)
- Birman - 2.1% (84)
- Ragdoll - 2.1% (81)
- Oriental Shorthair - 1.9% (75)
Female dogs were generally rated as better behaved than male dogs.
Of pet birds, 25% say only 1 or no human words at all, but the top 25% can say 11 or more, of which the top 5% can say over 100. Parrots and macaws know 2.5 times as many words as other birds.
- 56% of owners spend less than £10 per week on their pet
- 29% spend £10-20
- 5% spend £20-50
- 2% spend over £50 per week
Donkeys and horses are the most expensive to keep, and dog owners tend to spend more than cat owners.
65% of owners buy birthday presents for their pets. Donkeys, dogs, gerbils, hamsters, rabbits, parrots and newts are most likely to get a present.
Overall, 59% of owners let pets sleep in their bedroom, with cats scoring 82%, dogs 59%, lizards 57%, ferrets 33% and parrots 30%.
59% of owners say they miss their pets most when they go away, compared to 27% for partners, 11% for children and 3% for friends.
Horse, donkey, parrot and ferret owners are most likely to miss their pets.
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