Riviera Reporter
Riviera Reporter
THE FRENCH RIVIERA'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS MAGAZINE
THE FRENCH RIVIERA'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS MAGAZINE

Expats would rather spend Christmas with pets than in-laws

Christmas can be a difficult time when you live abroad. It’s the one time of year that you’re expected to make an effort with family. Either you have to pack everything up and head back to Blighty for the holidays, or get the house ready for the inevitable arrival of the in-laws.

Christmas with PetsIs it really surprising, then, that a survey by pet sitting website Trusted Housesitters showed that an overall eight out of ten expats would rather spend Christmas with their pets?

It’s not that expats don’t love their in-laws, it just seems that they love their pets… more.

Trusted Housesitters surveyed their database of expat home and pet owners to find out how we treat our pets at Christmas. With a database full of pet lovers looking for the perfect pet sitter, it’s no surprise that the results were so animal mad.

It looks like expats living in Spain are craziest about their pets, with all of the survey respondents saying that they would choose their pets over their in-laws any time. As for those of us living in France, we’re not far behind: 94% of expats living in France would choose their pets over their in-laws for Christmas company.

So why do expats prefer spending Christmas with their pets? Is it to save money on gift buying? Or is it to save time cooking a massive feast on the 25th December?

Not according to members of Trusted Housesitters! Almost one half of the expats surveyed said they would be rustling up some special Christmas grub for Moggy and Fido, and almost two thirds buytheir pets a Christmas gift.

We’re not just talking about some doggie friendly chocolate buttons; most of us spend more than £15 on each present. There’s an 8% minority who really go out of their way to treat their pampered pooches, spending more than £50 per gift. Well, it is the season to be jolly after all!

Great news for our pets (and the economy); over eight out of ten of us will be spending the same amount on our pets this year as last year. Trusted Housesitters owner Andy Peck commented on the survey, saying “It’s good to see that the financial crisis isn’t going to affect Christmas for pets this year and that they can expect as good, if not a better, Christmasthan the rest of us.”

Here here!

The pets at Christmas survey was run by Trusted Housesitters, a pet sitter connections website based in Brighton. For more information see the Trusted Housesitters about page, or read the house sitter FAQs for information about taking on a house sitter.

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