The Problem
Millions of pets are sold in the UK each year — dogs, cats, reptiles, small mammals — most advertised online. But nobody was systematically tracking what was being sold, by whom, or whether sellers were meeting basic welfare and licensing requirements.
Welfare organisations relied on manual spot-checks. Enforcement teams didn't know where to focus. Policymakers lacked the evidence to push for change. And while dogs receive some regulatory attention, cats have almost no breeding regulation, reptiles involve CITES-listed species with complex legal requirements, and small furries are largely invisible to welfare oversight.
What We Built
A data intelligence platform that aggregates, deduplicates, and analyses pet sale market data across four categories:
- Dogs — 57k animals across the market. Breeding license verification, ready-to-leave compliance, brachycephalic breed monitoring, and geographic hotspot detection.
- Cats — 13k animals tracked. An unregulated market with almost no breeding licence requirements — our data provides the first comprehensive view of scale and seller behaviour.
- Reptiles & Amphibians — 8k listings across 140 species. CITES compliance monitoring, with 57% of the market involving internationally protected species.
- Small Furries — 5k listings covering rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and more. The least visible category for welfare oversight, with minimal welfare data captured at point of sale.
The system captures listing data, seller profiles, pricing, welfare declarations, breeding license status, species identification, and geographic location — then structures it into actionable intelligence.
Key Findings
Our dog coverage captures approximately 75% of first-time puppy sales in the UK — making this the most comprehensive view of the market available.
- Inconsistent welfare standards. The level of welfare information varies dramatically across categories — from comprehensive (dogs on specialist platforms) to non-existent (small furries on general classifieds).
- Breeding license gaps. Significant portions of the dog market don't surface breeding license data. Cats have almost no breeding regulation at all.
- Geographic hotspots. High-volume listing concentrations in specific towns point to potential unlicensed commercial breeding operations.
- Breed welfare concerns. ~10% of dog listings are brachycephalic breeds with documented health issues.
- CITES compliance risks. 57% of the reptile market involves internationally protected species, yet compliance verification is inconsistent.
- Welfare-invisible categories. Three of five platforms covering small furries capture zero welfare fields — making rabbits, guinea pigs, and hamsters effectively invisible to oversight.
- Stale listings. Listings over 6 months old are still active in parts of the market — misleading buyers and inflating apparent supply.
What This Enables
- Enforcement targeting — identify unlicensed high-volume sellers and geographic hotspots for local authority investigation
- Accountability — compare welfare standards across the market and push for minimum data requirements
- Policy evidence — data-backed arguments for regulatory change, including extending breeding regulations to cats and improving welfare standards for exotic pets and small mammals
- Trend detection — tracking over time reveals shifts in pricing, breed popularity, and compliance
How It Works
The system runs continuously with no manual intervention. Data pipelines structure and deduplicate market information, feeding into analysis layers. Results are delivered as interactive dashboards and data decks.
Interested in the data?
We work with welfare organisations, local authorities, and policymakers. If this is relevant to your work, we'd love to talk.