The BVA, the Mayhew Animal Hospital, Dogs Today magazine and the Kennel Club are amongst various organisations that have criticised Morrisons for its Christmas advert - which can be seen here - in which a child is seen passing a slice of Christmas pudding to the family dog.

BVA President Peter Jones said: "It is vital that advertisers use animals responsibly and we are disappointed to see the Morrisons Christmas desserts TV commercial depicting a small boy feeding Christmas pudding to his dog. Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and mince pies - because they contain raisins or sultanas - are potentially harmful to pets and in some cases can lead to kidney failure.

"While we accept that many pet owners understand what is and what is not appropriate to feed their pets, children watch adverts and can be easily influenced by what they see. Veterinary organisations and animal welfare charities work really hard to promote messages about responsible pet ownership and TV adverts such as this one, with huge audiences, can undermine this work."

But hang on a second. Watching the advert, the child isn't actually feeding the dog anything. Rather, the dog is passed a bit of pudding which it then goes and places in a flowerpot, causing the plant to wilt. The dog isn't being fed the stuff, it's being asked to get rid of it.

Surely what this advert is really saying is: nobody likes Christmas pudding, least of all children and dogs.

Mind you, it does look like all this fuss is proving a very effective public awareness campaign about the danger of feeding a dog raisins or sultanas.

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