Why your hi-tech front room is a peril to your pet

PlayStations and iPods have emerged as greater threats to the nation's pets than traditional dangers found in the home such as tumble driers, washing machines and electric cables. The finding that new technology can cause widespread pet mayhem is revealed in a survey, by insurance specialist Petplan, of 3,000 pet owners across Britain.

According to the survey, iPods are most likely to cause injury to cats; rabbits are particularly at risk from Sony PlayStations; while the biggest dangers to guinea pigs come from DVD players and remote controls,



A typical example of this pet vulnerability is provided by Pugsley, a Jack Russell cross belonging to Jemma Scott, 22, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, which has repeatedly injured itself by jumping at dogs that appear on TV, entangling itself in wires linking the set to Jemma's Playstation, which then falls on top of the dog. The 14-year-old animal has been injured repeatedly by the games machine. 'Pugsley gets overexcited when he sees another dog on the television and jumps up at it,' Ms Scott said.

Other pet disasters revealed by the study include a cat that tried to sniff a candle and singed the whiskers off one side of her head and a dog that swallowed a pair of knickers and landed its owner with a £1,200 vet's bill to have them recovered.

Top 10 gadgets most likely in injure pets:

1) iPod (15 per cent)

2) Laptop (10.8 per cent)

3) Remote Control (10.8 per cent)

4) Plasma TV (10.8 per cent)

5) Wii (10 per cent)

6) DVD Player (10 per cent)

7) Playstation (8.3 per cent)

8) Nintendo DS (5.8 per cent)

9) Mobile Phone (5.8 per cent)

10) Karaoke Machine (5.8 per cent)