Consumer behavior of pet owners in Italy - statistics & facts
Dogs and cats are the most popular pets in Italian households. However, birds, small rodents, birds, and turtles are quite common as well. Fish are, indeed, the most widespread pets after dogs and cats. Despite the large number of pets in animal shelters, purchasing pets still represents one of the main ways of acquiring a domestic animal in Italy. According to a recent survey, the most common way for a pet to enter a household was as a gift, while some 25 percent of respondents bought it in a store or from a breeding farm. Still a significant share of pets were found on the street, according to 20 percent of survey respondents, and another 19 percent got them from an animal shelter.
