UK pets over-fed at Christmas

LEADING PET insurer Petplan reports that one in ten British pet owners admits to over-feeding their pet during the Christmas and New Year period and one fifth of vets say that the problem is getting worse.

Younger pet owners are revealed to be the guiltiest: 20% of 18 to 24 year olds confessed to overfeeding their pet during the festive season, says Petplan. And almost one quarter (23%) of owners reported that in the past their pets had helped themselves to Christmas leftovers.

More than half of all vets have seen pets who have suffered illness because of food consumption at Christmas, and a quarter of them said that the majority of food-related cases they saw were caused by the owner over-feeding their pet.