---
title: "The State of Pets in Data"
description: "Pet data, extracted and charted — adverse-event safety trends, shelter outcomes, the dog breeds people own vs. adopt, popular names, and pet-friendly city scores."
url: https://www.pawsitivid.com/open-pet-data
---

# The State of Pets in Data

This report turns open pet datasets into charts you can read at a glance, not a list of links. It draws on 1,340,077 pet adverse-event reports, municipal dog-license records, shelter outcomes, and pet-infrastructure data, pulled from 635 open sources. Every figure is extracted from the underlying data and links back to its origin.

## Key figures

- **1.3M** — pet adverse-event reports (FDA Animal & Veterinary, since 2000)
- **141k** — dog licenses analyzed (4 cities)
- **194k** — shelter outcomes tracked (2 shelters)
- **97.6%** — shelter dog live-release rate (Austin Animal Center)
- **24** — cities scored for pet-friendliness (Portland leads (100/100))
- **635** — open datasets catalogued (37 categories)

## Pet safety reports to the FDA

1,340,077 reports of suspected reactions to animal drugs, vaccines, and devices.

### Reports per year

| Year | Reports |
| --- | --- |
| 2000 | 18,148 |
| 2001 | 15,203 |
| 2002 | 13,224 |
| 2003 | 13,676 |
| 2004 | 20,465 |
| 2005 | 20,603 |
| 2006 | 22,731 |
| 2007 | 27,682 |
| 2008 | 34,269 |
| 2009 | 39,988 |
| 2010 | 42,714 |
| 2011 | 48,985 |
| 2012 | 66,436 |
| 2013 | 69,337 |
| 2014 | 67,865 |
| 2015 | 71,209 |
| 2016 | 73,905 |
| 2017 | 77,081 |
| 2018 | 71,102 |
| 2019 | 72,493 |
| 2020 | 68,365 |
| 2021 | 63,157 |
| 2022 | 58,690 |
| 2023 | 65,369 |
| 2024 | 81,146 |
| 2025 | 74,388 |

### By species

- Dog: 974,175
- Cat: 145,155
- Cattle: 31,093
- Horse: 18,126
- Human: 16,740
- Pig: 2,604
- Other: 1,499
- Sheep: 1,069

### Most reported reactions

- Vomiting: 211,773
- Lethargy: 92,168
- Diarrhoea: 81,061
- Emesis: 69,391
- Ineffective, heartworm larvae: 69,276
- Lack of efficacy (ectoparasite) - flea: 62,106
- Anorexia: 59,204
- Lack of efficacy: 55,141
- Lack of efficacy (endoparasite) - heartworm: 51,520
- Death: 50,560

Source: openFDA Animal & Veterinary Adverse Event API — https://open.fda.gov/apis/animalandveterinary/event/

## The dogs we own vs. the dogs in shelters

Most licensed breeds (owned):

- Labrador Retriever: 5,926
- Yorkshire Terrier: 5,269
- Shih Tzu: 5,198
- Chihuahua: 3,593
- Golden Retriever: 3,278
- Maltese: 2,831
- Labrador Retriever Crossbreed: 2,802
- Shih Tzu Crossbreed: 2,765

Most adopted breeds (Austin Animal Center):

- Labrador Retriever Mix: 4,912
- Pit Bull Mix: 4,366
- Chihuahua Shorthair Mix: 3,327
- German Shepherd Mix: 2,294
- Pit Bull: 1,741
- Australian Cattle Dog Mix: 1,169
- German Shepherd: 1,058
- Labrador Retriever: 1,041

## Where shelter dogs end up (Austin Animal Center)

97.6% of dogs leave alive.

- Adoption: 47,475
- Return to Owner: 23,677
- Transfer: 20,566
- Euthanasia: 2,215
- Died: 403
- Disposal: 96
- Missing: 41
- Unknown: 30
- Relocate: 2

## Most popular dog names

- Luna: 1,530
- Bella: 1,267
- Charlie: 1,041
- Milo: 992
- Coco: 966
- Max: 956
- Teddy: 781
- Lola: 773

## Top pet-friendly cities (score /100)

- Portland: 100/100
- Seattle: 100/100
- Hamburg: 90/100
- Leipzig: 88/100
- Potsdam: 83/100
- Minneapolis: 82/100
- Washington, D.C.: 79/100
- San Francisco: 76/100

---

Built from 635 open datasets across 37 categories. Full list: https://www.pawsitivid.com/open-pet-data/sources