Could Fido’s Companionship Replace Yours?

Approximately 43% of the UK population owns a pet with a total pet population of about 27 million pets.
The pets topping the list of preferred animal companion continue to be dogs and cats (approximately 7 million dogs and 7 million cats) followed by pet fish and pet birds. There are about 1.7 million small animals as pets, including rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils and rats according to data from a report by Global Information Inc.

Of particular note is the very high preference for pedigreed dogs of which there are 5.1million as opposed to mixed or cross breeds, accounting for the remaining 1.7 million dogs in the UK.  The top five breeds of dogs, starting wiht the most popular breed are the Labrador, the Border Collie, the Jack Russell Terrier, the Yorkshire Terrier and the German Shepherd (Alsatian). The top five cat breeds starting with the most popular are the Bengal, the British Short Hair, the Burmese, the Manx, and the Siamese

Very interesting social fact… pet ownership in the UK is mainly about companionship!

A recent survey suggests that 21% of pet owners in general bought their pet for companionship, compared to only 5% who have their pet for security. And 60% of single people in the UK say they buy pets for companionship and of this number 39% say they have replaced their partner with a pet!  Yikes!

To underscore the point of the importance of pets for companionship, it appears that this is true for even the most populated centre as 39% of London’s pet owners are said to have purchased their pet for companionship, despite having 7.5 million neighbours across the city!

One has to wonder if this a growing sociological trend globally… where the calming and loyal companionship of a pet is upstaging or undermining more complex and demanding human relationships. No doubt, many  pet lovers quickly see this as a possibility. One only has to recall the how many times throughout a work day that we hear the age-old phrase… “the more I know people the better I like my cat, dog, hamster, etc.”

So in addition to greatly fuelling the economy perhaps pets are becoming change agents in the social strata of human relationships by bringing to mind the essence of a positive relationship, one built on faith, trust, love, loyalty and respect. Yep, pets have this in spades. We can all learn from them.