Welcome to the Clowders blog! If you’re a cat lover, you’re in the right place. If you’re a dog lover you might want to take your four legged, panting friend for a walk now.

I was looking at some statistics on pet ownership recently and interestingly, it’s declining in the UK.

In 2013, the overall pet population in the UK was estimated at 77m but in 2018, that had fallen to 51m.

As the proportion of households that declare themselves as pet owners has been relatively consistent over the last 8 years at 45%, it seems that people are owning fewer pets per household. Possibly, costs are one of the reasons – owning a cat is certainly an expensive delight!

The most popular pet is and has been for a while, the dog with 26% of pet owners owning one. 18% of those who described themselves as pet owners were owned by a cat. The proportion of dogs to cats seems to have been pretty consistent for a number of years. As an aside the next most popular pet in 2017/18 was a rabbit with 2% of the total pet population.

Why do cat owners choose a cat? A 2016 survey indicates that 92% say that owning a cat makes them happy. 87% say that owning a cat is a privilege and not a right, and I’m sure their cats would agree. 86% and 77% of cat owners say that owning a cat makes them physically and mentally healthier respectively.

Statistics apart, why do we cat lovers choose to be owned by a cat or cats? Next week, I’ll put down my ideas, but don’t expect anything scientific.

In the meantime, let us know why you like being owned by your cat. We’d love to hear from you.