'Tis the Season to Be Careful! PR Newswire LONDON, December 21, 2012 LONDON, December 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- For most of us, Christmas is the season of festive cheer. But for pets, it is the most hazardous time of the year. Be it slipping on the ice, standing on sharp pine needles or eating something they shouldn't, analysis of over 650,000 claims by John Lewis Pet Insurance has found Christmas can be a treacherous time for cats and dogs. For three years in a row, December has seen more claims than any other month in the same year - and insurers believe a major cause might be families leaving Christmas food, such as Christmas pudding, within the reach of their pet. While accidents, injuries, wounds and fractures featured top of the list of injuries last December - as they do most months - "poisoning"* significantly increased during the festive period. Incidents of poisoning in December 2011 were 91% higher than the monthly average for that year. In 2010, the number of poisonings in December was 90% higher than the monthly average and 75% higher in December 2009 than the monthly average for that year. Now John Lewis Pet Insurance is warning pet owners to keep human food out of harm's way. Keith Bibby, head of marketing at John Lewis Insurance, said: "Domestic animals have very different dietary requirements from humans. A tasty treat, such as Christmas pudding or chocolate coins, could harm a cat or dog.
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