British owners are increasingly feeding their pets unhealthy treats but the PDSA warns poor diet, lack of socialisation and regular exercise is to blame for a rise in dog aggression
Britain’s pets are being fed junk food producing millions of overweight and aggressive animals, according to a new report.
The nation which prides itself in being one of animal lovers is giving around 5.5 million of them unhealthy treats including crisps, cake, cheese, takeaways and even alcohol.
The report from pet charity PDSA says poor diet, lack of socialisation and regular exercise is to blame for a rise in dog aggression towards both humans and others pets.
A quarter of a million dogs behave aggressively towards people every week while dog hostility towards other pets – including attacks – shot up to more than 600,000 incidents last year.
The annual PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) report shows pet obesity increasing with 80% of veterinary staff predicting there will be more overweight pets than healthy pets in five years time.
The study was produced with YouGov and surveyed 21,000 pet owners over the past four years.
Nicola Martin, the PDSA’s head of pet health and welfare, said: “We are undoubtedly a nation of animal lovers, with four out of five pet owners stating they feel physically or mentally healthier because of their pet.
“But our latest findings reveal that anti-social behaviour in dogs continues to rise due to a worrying lack of training, socialisation and exercise.
“Owners are sadly continuing to feed the wrong types of food with portion sizes out of control.”
The report found 2.4 million dogs are not given the opportunity to exercise off the lead outside the home or garden every day.
And more than 800,000 of these dogs were never taken for walks.
Treats owners admitted giving to dogs and cats included alcohol, cake, cheese and chocolate – which is toxic and potentially fatal.
Rabbits were fed biscuits, crisps and human leftovers.
It found 250,000 dogs a week are showing aggressive behaviour towards people while 30% of pet owners reporting being attacked by a dog.
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