We spend much of our time working with complex datasets to understand and improve health outcomes across our communities.

But on Love Your Pet Day, we’re celebrating another important population — our pets!

In 2024 the PDSA estimated that in the UK there were:

🐶 10.6 million dogs- 28% of UK adults own a dog.

🐈 10.8 million cats – 24% of UK adults own a cat.

😁  91% of pet owners say having a pet improves their life.

🏃‍➡️ 71% say owning a pet makes them physically healthier.

🧠 88% say owning a pet makes them mentally healthier.

Today we’re sharing a selection of much-loved pets of our Dorset Intelligence & Insight Service (DiiS) team — a reminder that behind every dataset are people, and behind many of those people is a very happy dog, cat or fish waiting at home!