With households feeling the pinch from the soaring cost of living, anything not seen as a necessity often comes under review.

And that can include pets, as over-stretched animal charities are discovering.

The PDSA PetAid hospital, the Jeanne Marchig centre, in East Bowling has reported a huge demand for pet care, which it puts down to the recession.

The PDSA provides free pet treatment for owners receiving housing benefit or council tax benefit. Hospital manager James Fennell says increasing numbers of people facing financial difficulties means more are becoming eligible for PDSA veterinary services, but public funding is dwindling.

“The rise in demand places a huge strain on us. Many of our hospitals are seeing far more pet patients than they can comfortably cope with,” says James. “We need to raise an extra £6 million in the next three years to replace three pet hospitals in areas of greatest need.”

Over the last five years, the number of pets treated at the centre has soared by 80 per cent. In 2006, it treated 9,221 pet patients a year, escalating to 16,557 in 2010.

On average, Bradford’s centre treated more than 200 pets a day last year, providing more than 100,000 treatments. The annual running costs are just under £1.5 million.

James, who today starts a London-to-Paris fundraising cycle ride for the PDSA, says the donations received can’t fund the increasing demand. And legacies, which make up a significant part of funding, often don’t come to fruition, with people living longer.

Rachel Oprysk, an RSPCA inspector in Bradford, says the city branch is close to ‘crisis point’ with the amount of abandoned animals being taken in.

She says the financial strain affecting many households could be a contributing factor, and urges people to consider the long-term implications of taking on a pet.

Haworth Cat Rescue is one of the small animal charities hit by a rise in demand and a drop in donations.

Campaign manager Corinne Moore says the centre is “bursting at the seams”. As more cats are coming in, adoptions are falling.

“Much-loved pets are relinquished due to changes in circumstances,” says Corinne. “We have a real crisis here, with around 350 callers on our seven-month waiting list.

“Families who find their homes repossessed invariably end up unable to keep their pets in rented accommodation – a situation likely to get worse. And people often don’t make provision for their cats’ future in the event that circumstances change. Pet insurance would help.”

Corinne says failing to have cats neutered is a false economy. “If, or more likely when, it gets pregnant there’s the cost of looking after kittens. That’s partly why so many get so cruelly dumped, often in places with very little chance of being found,” she says.

“Then you have the problem of nobody taking them on – adoptions here have slowed due to the recession.

“Not bothering to get cats neutered is where the crux of the cat crisis lies – that’s why many cats end up homeless, neglected, hungry and injured. Of the 280 cats we have taken in this year, almost half have been kittens.

“Our vet bills are mounting and we have been affected by the VAT rise. We are very worried about the future.”

At Roleystone horse sanctuary in Wrose, most horses brought in are from people who can no longer afford to keep them. The centre, which cares for about 50 neglected, abandoned and retired horses, relies solely on donations.

“A lot of sanctuaries are full so we’re getting calls from all over the country,” says owner Dianne French. “We’ve had ten horses come in over the last couple of weeks. Luckily, we had some ready to go out for re-homing, so we had room.

“Most horses come from people who can’t afford them – the recession has had a big impact. Some people have had their horses a long time but their circumstances change and they decide, often very reluctantly, that the horse has to go. Others don’t realise the cost of things like vets’ and dental fees.

“We’re desperately in need of funds, as well as donations of hay and feed to prepare for winter.”

* For more about the PDSA appeal, visit pdsa.org.uk/appeal or call 0800 0199004. For more about Haworth Cat Rescue, visit corinne.moore@haworth catrescue.org. For more about Roleystone, ring Dianne French on 07789 247209.