Vermont was the leading state in terms of cat ownership, with some 45 percent of households owning a pet cat in 2024. In comparison, around 32 percent of households in Wisconsin were cat owners that year. Cat ownership in the U.S. There are almost 47 million households in the U.S. that own a cat. Cats are the second most popular type of pets, only surpassed by dogs, which are owned by about 65 million households. The average accident and illness insurance premium for a cat in the U.S. amounts to approximately 387 U.S. dollars annually. The costs of insurance largely depend on the type of cat. The largest cat insurance claims paid in Canada and in the U.S. are made for a sphynx. A total claim amount of approximately 40,000 U.S. dollars is paid annually to treat various conditions for this breed. In comparison, a total claim amount of slightly under 15,000 U.S. dollars is paid for domestic short hairs at the age of four. American pet food companies The global pet food market has shown a growing trajectory for over a decade. The market reached sales of approximately 124 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. The U.S. company Freshpet is the fourth fastest-growing pet food company worldwide, with an annual growth rate of about 40 percent. The U.S. companies General Mills and Tuffy’s Pet Foods are also among the top ten fastest-growing pet food companies worldwide, with annual growth rates of approximately 33 and 25 percent, respectively. The German company Bewital petfood GmbH & Co. KG ranks in first place, with an annual growth rate of almost 100 percent. The leading pet food company in the U.S. is Mars Petcare Inc., with 19.5 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. Nestlé Purina PetCare follows closely in second place with just under 19.4 billion U.S. dollars in revenue.

This statistic presents the share of Americans who owned a cat in 2020, by age. In that year, 36 percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 years owned a cat.

According to a 2017 survey, Millennial males in the United States were more likely to be cat and/or dog owners than their female counterparts. Some 48 percent of male Millennial survey respondents stated that they owned a cat and 71 percent owned a dog. In comparison, 35 and 62 percent of female respondents were cat and/or dog owners, respectively.

Pet ownership rates in the United States

In 2019, 67 percent of all households in the United States owned a pet . This is over a ten percent increase from 1988. Almost 50 percent of surveyed American pet-owning households had a dog in 2017 , making it the most popular type of pet to own in the United States. Cats and freshwater fish were the second and third most popular type of pet, with a 38 and 10 percent share of the vote respectively.

Number of pets owned

Freshwater fish were the most kept pet in the United States in 2017/18 in terms of volume. In total, Americans were estimated to own approximately 139.3 million of the aquatic animals in that year. This large volume is no surprise when considering their small size and minor cost increases when owning more than one fish as a pet. Cats and dogs were the second and third most owned pets, with around 94.2 and 89.7 million living in U.S. households respectively.

An estimated 65.1 million households in the United States owned at least one dog according to a 2023/24 pet owners survey, making them the most widely owned type of pet across the U.S. at this time. Cats and freshwater fish ranked in second and third places, with around 46.5 million and 11.1 million households owning such pets, respectively.

Freshwater vs. salt water fish

Freshwater fish spend most or all their lives in fresh water. Fresh water’s main difference to salt water is the level of salinity. Freshwater fish have a range of physiological adaptations to enable them to live in such conditions. As the statistic makes clear, Americans keep a large number of freshwater aquatic species at home as pets.

American pet owners

In 2023, around 66 percent of all households in the United States owned a pet. This is a decrease from 2020, but still around a 10 percent increase from 1988. It is no surprise that as more and more households own pets, pet industry expenditure has also witnessed steady growth. Expenditure reached over 136 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, almost a sixfold increase from 1998. The majority of pet product sales are still made in brick-and-mortar stores , despite the rise and evolution of e-commerce in the United States.

This statistic shows the estimated percentage of households owning cats in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2011 to 2024. According to the most recent pet population survey, it was estimated that 29 percent of households in the UK owned at least one cat.

In 2023, the share of households owning a pet cat in the Philippines was about 6.6 percent, which was an increase compared to the previous year. The share of households owning a cat was expected to increase in the following year.

The cat ownership ratio among people aged 50 to 59 years in Japan amounted to around 11.2 percent as revealed in a survey conducted in October 2023. Cats along with dogs represent the most common pets in Japan, with the overall cat ownership ratio remaining steady at close to ten percent in recent years.

With over 470 million dogs kept as pets worldwide, dogs came out on top as the leading type of pet in 2018. Within the same year, there were roughly 370 million pet cats in the world.

Pets in the European Union

While dogs were globally speaking the most common type of pet, cats were more common in the European Union in 2018. Roughly 75 million people within this region had a pet cat in 2018, compared to the 65 million pet dogs. That year, Germany had about nine and a half million pet dogs, making it the country with the highest number within the European Union. Other top dog-loving countries included the United Kingdom, Poland, and France.

Other pets in Germany

Besides cats and dogs, Germans had many other household pets in 2018. About five and a half million small pets, such as hamsters and rabbits, were kept by Germans that year. Additionally, about two million households in Germany owned an aquarium and roughly one and a half million households owned a garden pond.

In 2023, Romania ranked highest for cat ownership among countries in the European Union, with 48 percent of households in Romania owning at least one cat. Poland followed in second with about 41 percent of cat-owning households. That year, the overall pet cat population on the continent was estimated at around 129 million. Pet food production in Europe The pet food industry in Europe gained pace in recent years and presently holds a prominent position on the global level. In 2022, Europe was the largest pet food producing region in the world, with a production volume of approximately 11.78 million metric tons, compared to 11.2 million metric tons produced in North America. That year, Europe’s pet food production volume was, however, one of the slowest-growing in the world. The Latin American region was the fastest-growing. European pet food companies Europe’s growing pet food industry also means there are many players in the pet food market competing for profits. In 2021, United Pet Food Producers, a Belgian pet food manufacturer, garnered the highest revenues of approximately 800 million U.S. dollars. Other leading pet food companies in Europe included Agrilomen SA fromSpain and Deuerer from Germany, with annual revenues totaling 753 million and 750 million U.S. dollars, respectively.

In 2023, approximately 21.88 million households in the Philippines owned a pet cat, indicating an increase from the previous year. The number of families owning cats has steadily increased since 2016.

Are cats winning the battle against dogs? If dogs are man’s best friend, it seems that the small feline has a big space in French people’s households. In 2022, a third of households owned a cat in France, whereas 20 percent of them declared owning a pet dog.

This is a cat’s world  

Similarly, there were more cat owners in Belgium, in Denmark and Germany, than dog owners. Although this may be true, in Spain and the United Kingdom, people were more frequently dog owners than cat owners. Nonetheless, in the U.K the number of pet cats was on the rise, there were 12 million cats registered in 2021-2022.

Cat-ching!  

In the United Kingdom, the lifetime cost of keeping a cat was 12,000 British pounds, which was slightly higher than the cost of keeping a dog. On the opposite side, in the United States, annual expenses for cats were lower than expenses for dogs. Pet owners are keen to celebrate with their animals as a significant share makes the effort to purchase gifts for them on special occasions.

According to a national pet owners survey, there was a total of approximately 95.6 million cats living in households in the United States in 2017. In the same year, some 68 percent of all U.S. households owned at least one pet.

Increasing pet expenditure

Whilst the number of households owning cats, and pets in general, has remained relatively consistent over the last few years, pet industry expenditure has steadily grown. Consumers are expected to spend a record breaking 75.38 billion U.S. dollars on their pets in 2019. The majority of pet market revenue comes from food sales, followed by veterinary care costs.

Shopping location preferences

When it comes to shopping locations, most consumers still purchase their pet products in physical retail stores. However, the number of consumers buying pet products online is on the rise. Dry cat food was the number one pet product bought online by cat owners in the United States in 2018.

In the United States, more than half of the population reported owning a pet in 2011. This number has been quite steady since then. Today there are more than 90 million cats in the United States, while the number of dogs is just below the 90 million-mark. Freshwater fish are the most common pet with almost 140 million nationwide in 2018, followed by the aforementioned cats and dogs.   Pet expenses    When it comes to expenses, fish are generally considered low maintenance compared to other pets. Dogs especially require high expense, particularly for kennel boarding while their owners are away. However, the highest costs for dog owners are due to surgical vet visits, reported at almost double the expense for cats in 2019. Lower life expectancy could be a factor - around 11 years for a medium-sized dog, compared with 12 to 15 years for cats.  
  Pet food  

Food is currently the largest expense for cat owners, and the second highest for dogs, not even including treats. Despite the convenience of buying pet food online, or while already grocery shopping in a supermarket, food store, or wholesale club, the highest share of pet food sales comes from pet specialty chains. With many owners are willing to make the extra trip for their pets, chain shops Pet Smart and PetCo make up almost half the market for pet companies in the United States.

From 2010 to 2023, the share of cats in Swedish households was higher than the share of dogs. In 2019, 19 percent of households owned at least one cat, while there were 15 percent of dog-owning households. In 2023, the share amounted to 21 percent of cat owners as well as 15 percent of dog owners. The number of the popular pet animal cats grew in this period from 1.27 million to 1.72 million cats.    Most popular cat breeds  The Ragdoll cat breed came first in the popularity ranking measured by number of purchased animals in Sweden in 2021. In this year, nearly three thousand animals of this breed were bought. The Maine Coon ranked second with a number of around two thousand purchased cats, ahead of the Siberian Cat cat and the Norwegian Forest cat.  Pet dogs  In Sweden in 2010, there were 749 thousand pet dogs. This number increased by almost 300 thousand and, in 2022, peaked at about 1.04 million animals. As of 2019, the Labrador Retriever was the most purchased dog breed in the country, reaching over 2.9 thousand animals. It was followed by approximately 1.95 thousand purchased Golden Retriever dogs as well as German Shepherd dogs.

Among the wide variety of animals kept as pets, cats and dogs are the most common. In Spain, dogs seem to be the most popular pet, with 27 percent of Spanish households owing at least one canine in 2023. The share of households that owned a cat experienced an ongoing decrease over the recent years, falling to 11 percent in 2019 down from a 21 percent in 2010. This figure picked up again in 2022 to reach 17 percent.

Dogs: Spain’s favorite domestic animal

The popularity of dogs in Spain cannot be denied – the number of hounds has only increased in the last years, reaching figures of approximately 9.3 million in 2023. The number of stray and street dogs recused on the Spanish streets saw a drop over time, falling from 108,300 dogs in 2013 down to 104,700. This figure, however, increased dramatically in 2019.

The situation of pet cats in Spain

Spanish homes had around 5.8 million pet cats in 2023, which is about half the number of that of dogs the same year. The number of rescued stray or street felines was also significantly lower compared to dogs, until figures rocketed in 2019. The fate of rescued street and stray pets normally has a happy ending, with nearly half of them adopted by a new family and 18 percent returned to their original homes that year.

Surveyed dog owners in the United States stated that they spent, on average, 442 U.S. dollars on pet food per year in 2020. In comparison, cat-owning respondents claimed to spend an average of 329 U.S. dollars on pet food on an annual basis.

Pet ownership in the United States In 2019/20, dogs and cats were the most popular American household pets. There were approximately 63.4 million dog-owning households and 42.7 million cat-owning households in the United States. Other pets living in U.S. households included freshwater fish, saltwater fish, birds, reptiles, and horses. Due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and the increased time spent at home, many Americans reported acquiring new pets. In a recent survey carried out in December 2020, 10 percent of respondents in the United States reported acquiring a new pet as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Pet expenditures in the United States As Americans increasingly acquired more and more pets over the years, pet industry expenditure in the United States increased at an impressive rate, growing by over 500 percent between 1994 and 2020. Pet food and treats captured the biggest share of pet industry sales, followed by veterinary services and related products. In terms of pet food, the dry dog food segment generated the highest amount of sales, with around 5.3 billion U.S. dollars generated in 2020.

From 2010 to 2023, the share of Norwegian households which owned a cat remained steady at around one-third. By comparison, over this period, around 17 percent of households owned at least one dog. Cats seemed to be a very popular pet in Norway; the number increased in recent years and peaked in 2021 and 2022 at 783,000 animals.    Pet cats in Sweden In Norway’s neighboring country Sweden, the situation was similar. Since 2012, the share of households owning at least one cat remained between 16 and 21 percent, while 13 to 16 percent of Swedish households owned a dog. In this country, too, cats were more common to have as a pet than dogs. As of 2023, there were around 1.72 million pet cats registered in Sweden. Pet cats in Denmark The population of pet cats in Denmark in 2023 was estimated to be 698,000. Unlike in Norway and Sweden, the share of households owning cats as a pet in this year was much lower than households owning a pet dog. It is striking that the situation was different before. From 2016 to 2019, the share of households owning at least one dog remained stable at around 23 percent, while it was about 27 percent for pet cats.          

This statistic presents the estimated share of households owning at least one cat or one dog in Ireland from 2010 to 2023. As of 2023, 25 percent of households in Ireland owned a pet dog.

As of 2022, nearly every fourth household in Finland owned at least one pet dog or one cat. Compared to the year 2020, household's dog ownership in Finland remained unchanged while cat ownership slightly decreased.

This statistic presents the estimated share of households owning at least one cat or one dog in Austria from 2010 to 2023. As of 2023, 17 percent of households in Austria owned a pet dog.