Owners spend almost £70,000 on pets over their adult lifetime, according to new research by VoucherCodesPro.

The study polled more than 2,000 adults across the UK. Respondents were asked how much they spent on their pet in an average year, taking everything into account including pet food, cages and housing, accessories, grooming, insurance and trips to the vet.

The average spend on each pet was:

• Dog - £1,900
• Cat - £1,200
• Rabbit - £850
• Goldfish (aquarium or pond) - £510
• Small mammal (such as a hamster or gerbil) - £310

As for lifetime spend, the results look something like this:

• Dog (11 years) - £20,900
• Cat (14 years) - £16,800
• Rabbit (10 years) - £8,500
• Goldfish (10 years) - £5,100
• Small mammal (two years) - £620

They were also asked to share which pets and how many of each they planned on having over their adult lifetime. The average response was two dogs, one cat, one small mammal and two goldfish. From this, researchers calculated that the average person would spend a whopping £69,420 on pets during their life.

Owners make significant sacrifices for their pets, with 42% saying that they probably bought more for their pets than they did for themselves. And 12% admitted that they’d gone into debt keeping their pet previously.