RECREATION : PETS

List: Top Ten Most Popular Pets in the UK

Date: 2008

Source: The Pet Foods Manufacturers Association

Base: Total number by species, rounded in millions.

Notes: Survey carried out for the PFMA by TNS. According to government data the most popular pets in the UK (by percentage of ownership) are dogs at 23.4%. However, research by the charity Cats Protection League showed figures of 7.5m cats kept in households throughout the UK, compared with 6.1m dogs. This compared with 4.9m feline households in 1979. Calculations by the British Federation of Herpetologists suggest that there are now almost eight million reptiles and amphibians being kept as pets in the UK with the five most popular species being leopard geckos, bearded dragons, corn snakes, royal pythons and Hermann's tortoises.