Keeping your animals fit by exercising them regularly and not loading them up with fattening treats will keep the bills down.

Also, if you give them regular maintenance in the form of worming and flea treatments you will also keep them out of the surgery.

However, it can be an expensive business, costing up to £95 a year for a cat and £76 a year for a small dog.

But you can slash those bills by more than half simply by switching from traditional pharmaceutical treatments to gentler – and cheaper - herbal wormers and flea products that really work. 

Herbal delousing for a cat or small dog comes in at under £38 for a cat and just £30 for a small dog using products from Naturalpetchoice.com.  That’s a saving of almost 60 per cent.