Most common ways of purchasing pets in Italy 2007-2019

Purchasing pets represents one of the main ways of acquiring a domestic animal in Italy. However, there are many possible means of pet purchasing: which one is the most popular? This survey conducted on Italian veterinaries' clients suggested that buying animals from breeding farms, from other private citizens or in pet shops were by far the most popular option, accounting in total for more than 90 percent of the respondents through the years. In particular, we note how direct purchases from other private citizens surpassed breeding farms in 2019, moving respectively to 39.2 and 38.8 percent. After the lowest point of 15.5 percent in 2017, purchases from pet shops increased again in 2019 as well, reaching 21 percent.