3.35 Million Pet Owners Have Witnessed Behavioural Problems In Their Cats And Dogs Over The Past Year

    LONDON, ENGLAND, July 19, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Sainsbury's Pet Insurance provides up to GBP250 a year for behavioural problems.
Sainsbury's Finance is offering 12 months for the price of 9 online until 4th August 2009.

New research from Sainsbury's Finance indicates that some 3.35 million cat and dog owners have witnessed behavioural problems in their pet over the past 12 months(1). This equates to some 18% of the nation's cats or dogs suffering from some kind of behavioural problem. The biggest problem seen by owners was damage caused to furniture by a troubled cat or dog, which was cited by 1.3 million pet owners.

Joanne Mallon, Sainsbury's Pet Insurance Manager, said: "The current economic climate is placing a lot of people under increased stress, and unfortunately this anxiety can have an adverse effect on the household's pets. Cats and dogs can be very sensitive to their owner's feelings and behaviour so changes in mood such as irritability, distress or remoteness could be sensed and leave the animal themselves, agitated or depressed."

The bank's findings also revealed that cats and dogs suffer from a number of other behavioural conditions, including moodiness (5%), aggression (2%) and loss of appetite (2%). Depression was also cited by 1% of Britain's pet owners.

Sainsbury's Pet Insurance provides up to GBP7,500 per condition for veterinary treatments, including up to GBP250 a year for behavioural problems, and is offering 12 months for the price of 9 on all policies purchased online before 4th August 2009.
From a regional perspective, cats and dogs residing in the Yorkshire & Humberside region would appear to be suffering most from behavioural problems, with a quarter (24%) of owners citing their pets as demonstrating at least one problem. The least affected cats and dogs are to be found in the Eastern region, with only 9% of owners saying that their pets were suffering from adverse behavioural traits.

Good quality pet insurance does not need to be expensive, good cover at a competitive price can be found by shopping around. Sainsbury's Pet Insurance is designed to offer some of the widest range of benefits available at a competitive price. For further information call 0800 0565758, log on to www.sainsburys.co.uk or pick up a leaflet in a Sainsbury's supermarket.

Notes to Editors:

(1) The consumer omnibus research of 2,038 GB adults aged 18 or over was carried out online by ICM between 19th - 21st June 2009. ICM uses a large sample size that reflects the demographic profile of GB. Given this, it is possible to extrapolate figures and make projections from the research results within appropriate confidence intervals. So 5% of the GB adult population of 45.89 million is 2.3m. Figures are estimates.

Sainsbury's Finance:
To view our latest press releases and product information, please visit the Sainsbury's Finance online media centre at www.sainsburysfinance.co.uk/media.

Sainsbury's Finance offers a range of quality, competitively priced, award-winning products. It opened for business on 19th February 1997 and was the UK's first supermarket bank. It is a 50:50 joint venture with Sainsbury's and Lloyds Banking Group.

Sainsbury's Finance offers the following products: Credit Cards and Loans, a range of Savings products and Car Insurance, Life Insurance, Home Insurance, Travel Insurance and Pet Insurance

For further information and general Sainsbury's Finance enquiries customers can call the freephone number on 0500 40 50 60 or visit www.sainsburysfinance.co.uk

Notes to editors/webmasters

If using this article on a website, please link to www.sainsburysbank.co.uk using the following hyperlink text at the bottom of the article:
http://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/insuring/ins_petinsurance_pet_skip.shtml

# # #