Hot on the heels of research showing that pets are more pampered, comes the news from Debenhams Pet Insurance of a trend towards pets being given the same names as children.

Whereas in days gone by a dog would perhaps wag its tail in response to ‘Rover’ or ‘Bonzo’, Debenhams online pet cover service has found that dogs covered under its policies are more likely now to be called ‘Jack’, 'Max' or 'Charlie', all of which are amongst the most popular names for boys. Similarly, 'Sophie' is the 4th most popular name for cats, and the 6th most popular for girls.

Anthropomorphism gone mad? Maybe. But it can only be good news for veterinary practice and standards of petcare if owners are increasingly viewing their pets as one of the family, or as a 'surrogate child'.