More and more families are forced to give up their pets as they're unable to take care of them due to the cost of living crisis.

While the UK is a very animal-loving nation, unfortunately, the current cost of living crisis has forced owners to rehome their beloved pets.

With an estimated 660,000 dogs being rehomed each year, the numbers are expected to rise, but rescue centres don’t have the capacity to cope with this increase.

According to the vet charity PDSA, the average cost of owning a dog may average between £50 to £80 a month, but this varies a lot depending on each dog and their individual needs.

Due to the cost of living crisis, fewer and fewer families are able to pay for these costs, forcing them to give up their dogs.

As September is 'Responsible Dog Ownership Month', PuppyHero decided to investigate the UK areas with the most dogs available for adoption.

This was carried out by scraping RSPCA’s search tool to find rescue dogs determined by breed and age and then cross-referenced by location.

According to numbers from the RSPCA, noted by PuppyHero, 594 dogs are currently up for adoption in Swindon and Wiltshire. 328 of these are male whereas 266 are female.

This means that there are 6.95 dogs available in Swindon and 8.71 dogs available in Wiltshire per 10,000 inhabitants. 

In Swindon, the most common dog breed up for rehoming is the French Bulldog. In the rest of Wiltshire, the most common breed up for rehoming is the labrador retriever.

Although Wiltshire is ranked 230th for having the most dogs available, followed by Swindon which is ranked 264 out of 365 districts, there is still an increase in these areas.

Amy Ockleford, a spokesperson for RSPCA, said: "Sadly, we're seeing lots of animals coming into our care at the moment due to the rising cost of living, with owners having to make heartbreaking decisions to part with their pets as they struggle to pay household bills and feed their families.

"We're also seeing a lot of dogs come to us who have behavioural challenges due to being reared during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, which has left many with severe separation anxiety and lacking vital socialisation skills.

 "We'd urge anyone who thinks they can commit to a dog - both time-wise and financially - to please consider taking on a rescue dog."