You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

The number of  pets being kept in human society is growing all the time and recent figures published by Euromonitor International give a useful insight into population sizes.

According to the Pet FoodManufacturers Association (PFMA)

In 2013 it is estimated that in the UK 13 million (45% of) households have pets.  The pet population has increased by 4 million to almost 71 million – that’s 24.5 million excluding fish. Below is a list of the top ten UK pets in 2013. 

Top Ten Pets for 2013 (based on running totals over two years)

1. Fish kept in tanks: 20 - 25 million

2. Fish kept in ponds: 20 - 25 million

3. Dogs: 8.5 million

4. Cats: 8.5 million

5. Rabbits: 1 million

6. Caged birds: 1 million

7. Domestic fowl: 1 million

8. Guinea Pigs: Half a million

9. Hamsters: Half a million

10. Horses and ponies: 400,000

Other popular pets are Lizards (400,000), snakes (300,000), tortoises and turtles (300,000), frogs and toads (200,000), pigeons (200,000), newts/salamanders (200,000), gerbils (100,000) rats, insects and mice were the least popular in our report (100,000 for each).

Abroad

Estimated number of European households having a pet : 70 million households

Estimated percentage of European households owning at least one cat or one dog  Cats 25%, Dogs 26%

http://www.fediaf.org/facts-figures/  

In the USA there are estimated to be 75 million pet dogs and 84 million pet cats with half all households having a pet:

http://www.petfoodinstitute.org/?page=PetPopulation 

Updated October 2013