Pets are the loyal companions we love having around the home. But as many will no doubt know home ownership and pet ownership don't always sit happily in the same sentence.
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Dogs, cats and more are famed for getting into misadventures and rarely give two jots if they scuff your newly purchased Chesterfield sofa or turn your hand spun Moroccan rug into their day bed.
Now new research from My Job Quote has revealed the true cost of this pet tomfoolery. More than three quarters of the 2,263 British pet-owners questioned revealed that they had to repair damage in their home caused by a pet, with the average annual repair bill coming in at £300.
The biggest pet culprit when it came to causing damage to the home were dogs (51 per cent) followed, surprisingly, by rabbits (36 per cent) in second place.
In third was cats (32 per cent) followed by indoor birds (16 per cent) in the fourth place and rats (11 per cent) in fifth.
The most common forms of damage caused by our four and two-legged friends were ‘broken furniture’ (32 per cent), ‘ruined carpet’ (18 per cent) and ‘chewed wires’ (14 per cent).
The trouble caused by pesky pets had even put 41 per cent of homeowners off their plans to redecorate.
Asked what measures they had taken to pet proof their property 'installing a gate' (24 per cent) came out on top, followed by 'training the pet' (19 per cent) and sensibly 'moving anything broken out of reach' (18 per cent).
Commenting on the findings of the study Lisa Evans, spokesperson MyJobQuote, said:
'We’re certainly are a nation of animal lovers, but owning a pet does come with a cost.
'So much so that sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and pay for repairing the damage that they cause, but it’s definitely worth trying to find a way of pet-proofing your home or training your pet to stop doing what it’s been doing up until now.'
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