It is December again and like every year, Christmas has taken over everything… even animals.

People’s pets have unwittingly got into the festive spirit themselves after their over excited owners dressed them up in their best Christmas gear.

From antlered puppies to rabbits in Christmas hats, we challenged our readers to send in their cutest pictures of their beloved pets getting ready for the Christmas festivities.

And once again, they did not disappoint.

The Echo office was inundated with adorable snaps of your animals all geared up for the arrival of Father Christmas.

And after they melted our hearts, we selected this as our favourite selection of the most Christmassy pets.

The Echo’s digital and social editor, Scott Hornsby, said: “We were absolutely chuffed with the amount of photos we received, making the decision which ones made it into print very difficult.

“Here in the Echo office, we love nothing more than when our readers engage with us, and give us a glimpse into their lives which they have done with these fantastic pics.

“It is a shame we couldn’t include more, but we always want to see your snaps so keep an eye on our Facebook page, Echo Essex, to see how you can feature in one of our future galleries.

“Merry Christmas to all our readers and their festive pets.”