Pet Strollers

Who needs a stroller

Most buyers fall into four groups. An older dog whose back legs give out halfway round the block. A dog recovering from surgery who is allowed fresh air but no exercise. A cat or a small dog who cannot safely be walked on a lead. And a puppy who is not fully vaccinated yet but should already be meeting traffic, prams, bicycles and other dogs while his brain is still open to it. In every one of those cases the point is the same: the animal keeps the smells, the sounds and the company of the walk while you carry the load. A foldable pet stroller covers most of them, and for two small dogs or a bonded pair of cats a double stroller saves the argument about whose turn it is to ride.

Wheels and rough ground

Wheel size decides where you can actually go. Small hard wheels are fine on a smooth pavement and hopeless on gravel, tree roots or a forest track, where every bump travels straight up into the dog. For anything off tarmac, look for larger wheels, air-filled or at least properly rubber-tyred, and some suspension on the rear axle. A front wheel that swivels makes a supermarket aisle easy, and a front wheel you can lock straight makes a rutted path far steadier, so the useful ones do both. A stroller built for large dogs normally gets the bigger wheels along with the bigger basket, and if your usual route is genuinely rough, a bike trailer that doubles as a pram has the sturdiest running gear of anything here.

The weight limit trap

This is the number people get wrong. The maximum weight is a structural rating for the frame and the basket floor. It tells you nothing about whether your dog fits. Measure her lying down, from the chest to the base of the tail, and standing, from the floor to the top of the shoulder, then compare that with the internal length, width and height of the cabin rather than the outside dimensions. A stocky 12 kg dog needs more room than a leggy 14 kg one. Leave headroom on the weight rating instead of buying a stroller rated at exactly your dog's weight, and check the folded size too if it has to live in a car boot. Both the large-dog stroller and the PawHut 2-in-1 pushchair list their internal measurements on the product page.

Rain, wind and sun

Northern European weather is why a cover matters far more here than it does in the catalogue photograph. A full rain cover keeps a wet dog dry and keeps the wind off an old one whose coat no longer holds heat, and the mesh panels underneath stop the cabin turning into a greenhouse the moment the sun comes out. A stroller with a rain cover gives you both layers in one. Whatever you choose, unzip the mesh when it is warm, park in shade rather than direct sun, and always use the internal safety tether, because a startled cat will go through an open panel before you have finished reaching for it. A foldable stroller with a zip-away hood is the easier one to ventilate quickly.

Strollers that convert

Several of these are two or three products in one, which is worth knowing before you buy twice. The PawHut 2-in-1 bike trailer and pram hitches to your bike for the journey out and swaps to a pram handle when you arrive, and the SEPNINE 2-in-1 for large dogs does the same on a heavier frame. The stroller with a car mount goes a step further and secures inside the car, so one purchase covers the drive and the walk at the other end. If you would rather carry than push, see carriers and backpacks.

Petifo is a Swedish company and we ship across the EU with tracked delivery. Prices include VAT, with no extra customs fees on EU orders. If something is not right you can request a return within 30 days under our return policy, and our team is happy to help you choose before you buy.