THOUGHTLESS Bradford pet owners are creating a plague of fat, diabetic, stressed and lonely animals, according to the UK’s leading vet charity.

A hard-hitting national report by the PDSA has shocking statistics about how animals are often bought on a whim, under-exercised, ill-cared for and left to suffer in silence.

Vet Dan Cook, at the Bradford PDSA clinic in Lorne Street, East Bowling said: "We are seeing an increase in problems relating to animal obesity in Bradford and especially a large number of cases of diabetes in dogs due to them being overweight and obese."

Mr Cook said obesity also caused damage to joints, plus breathing and digestive system problems.

Figures in the fifth annual PDSA Animal Wellbeing report how:

• 1 in 5 pet owners in Yorkshire and the Humber get pets impulsively, failing to carry out any research beforehand.

•1 in 8 of pet owners in the region underestimate the cost of their pet at about £500 for its entire lifetime – a cat, for example, can cost £17,000.

• More than a third of local dog owners think it acceptable to leave a dog alone for six to ten hours – the highest figure in the UK.

•A quarter would consider getting a dog from a puppy farm.

•Three per cent of Yorkshire and Humber dogs are never walked on the lead for ten minutes or more.

The PDSA blames what it calls a "want it now" consumer culture with over 4.5 million owners doing no research at all before getting a pet.

The charity's head of pet health and welfare, vet Nicola Martin, said: "PDSA’s research shows that as a nation, we’re still in love with the idea of pet ownership with over half of UK households owning a pet and 88 per cent of pet owners believing that owning a pet improves their lives.

"Sadly, too many people are continuing to underestimate the financial cost and the importance of choosing the right pet for their lifestyle before taking on a new pet."

Other national research just released shows 2.3 million dogs are routinely left alone for five hours or more which can cause aggression

A quarter of all UK cats, estimated at 2.6 million cats, live indoors all the time, which can cause stress and feline obesity.

Nearly 700,000 pet rabbits live alone, potentially causing mental suffering for the highly-social animals.

Almost a third of rabbit owners feed rabbit muesli, despite this leading to painful dental disease and poor nutrition.