Pet friendly

THERE are now more pets in European households than children.

A survey undertaken by phone giant, Samsung, shows that close to twothirds (63 per cent) of pet owners consider their pets as beloved family members.

The survey shows that tech ­ savvy owners would like to be able to use technology to clean up after their pets using vacuum cleaners (53 per cent), keep them fed using automatic feeders (49 per cent) and use location trackers to monitor their movements (48 per cent).

At a time when households are facing the ongoing cost­of­living crisis, pet owners aren’t looking to compromise when it comes to their pets.

A huge 59 per cent of surveyed respondents said they do not plan to cut down on overall spending for their pets ­ while a majority (61 per cent) said they would make other sacrifices first before they consider cutting back the amount they spend on their pets.

Some owners stated they would reduce their spending on everything from necessities such as utilities (27 per cent) and socialising with friends (40 per cent) before cutting back their spending on their animal companions.