The top trending dog and cat breeds in Australia are the Golden Retriever and the Maine Coon, and the most searched name is Loki.
The research, conducted by Hills Pet who analysed Google search interest over 2021, studied the most searched dog and cat breeds, names, and whether people are looking to adopt or purchase.
The most searched dog breeds were the Golden Retriever, Border Collie, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, and Cavoodle, with more people searching about how to acquire a ‘new’ dog as opposed to adopting one.
The highest trending cat breeds were the Maine Coon, Bengal, Ragdoll, British Shorthair, and Sphynx, and the most popular naming category was movies and TV.
According to Animal Medicines Australia (AMA) 69 per cent of households now own a pet, a significant increase on 61 per cent two years ago.
This surge is largely due to the Covid-19 and the changing work environment, allowing more people the ability to work from home and devote their time to and energy into caring and inviting a new pet into their household.
In fact, 24 per cent of all pet cats across the country were obtained during the pandemic, and there were 4.9 million searches for cat adoption, rescue, and sale in 2021.