More pets in Belgium

At the end of May, the Belgian pet food industry association (acronym: BEPEFA) published the findings of a survey on the Belgian pet population. Between 26 April and 2 May, the online market research company iVOX surveyed around 1 000 Belgians for this purpose.

The results indicated that 59 per cent of respondents have one or more pets, an increase of two per cent compared with the previous year and as much as seven per cent by comparison with 2021. On average, a household has 3.8 pets. This is a modest increase compared with the previous year (3.6 pets). French-speaking households (65 per cent) and young households (70 per cent) in particular own a pet. This is evidently less often the case in Dutch-speaking households (53 per cent) and in households with persons over 55 years of age (44 per cent).

Dogs and cats are by far the most popular pets; more than 33 per cent of households have at least one cat and 30 per cent own at least one dog. The number of dog owners has risen by six per cent in the last two years, while the number of cat-owning households has only increased by two per cent. An increase of 1.8 per cent has been recorded for the rabbit population, while the number of cage birds has declined by 0.9 per cent and the number of aquarium fish by 1.3 per cent.

It has also emerged from the survey that for 20 per cent of pet owners, price is the most important criterion when shopping for pet food. 60 per cent of pet owners would make no changes to feeding their pet, however, if prices were to rise on account of inflation. In this case, only 20 per cent would opt for a cheaper alternative. Belgian owners are prepared on average to spend a maximum of 109 euros per month on their pet, with the purchase of food accounting for 79.40 euros of this. Compared with 2021, people are shopping more frequently online and from veterinary practices. Pet stores are also preferred more often than two years ago. Consumers aged under 35 years buy pet food most frequently online. Dog owners in particular are resorting more often to speciality channels, while cat owners tend to use supermarkets.