Emergency veterinary bills for accidents to pets over the festive period could spiral into millions of pounds.

Last December insurers paid out £13 million – with the most common mishaps involving pets eating dangerous items, from decorations to chocolates left under the tree.

Other risks include burns from fairy lights, cuts from glass ornaments that break and swallowing tinsel.

Bills could reach £3,000 to remove a swallowed plastic bauble; £1,200 for anaesthetic to ease constipation caused by eating a turkey carcass; £700 a day to put a dog on a drip after devouring chocolate.

Vet Brian Faulkner, from insurer Petplan, said: "Pets don’t know what’s hazardous and what’s not.

"They also won’t think twice about destroying your perfectly decorated tree if there is something on it that interests them."