How much people spend on their pets

In Brighton dogs are very popular. Photo: Howard Walsh, Pixabay

More than half (51 per cent) of the UK population has a pet, with some people spending over 3 500 GBP a year on their animals, according to a data analysis from Idealo.co.uk. Pet toys, clothes, food, beds and grooming sets have seen an increased spend of 31 per cent over the last 12 months. The data shows that products such as dog beds increased in value by 25 per cent over the last year from the start of 2020.

Manchester and Leeds are the places where the most people spend on dogs (56 per cent in each city), followed by Edinburgh (53 per cent) and Brighton (51 per cent). Spending on cats is highest in Nottingham, where 68 per cent of the population spends most on felines, followed by Birmingham (57 per cent) and Liverpool (53 per cent).

In Bristol, fish are the most popular pets, kept by 52 per cent of the city's inhabitants, while the citizens of Southampton (45 per cent) consider rodents to be the coolest pets.