PET owners in the UK could be wasting up to £600 million each year on prescription-only medicines which provide treatments they don’t actually need, according to new research.

And now experts have called for better ‘clarity’ on pricing from veterinary surgeries.

A survey of more than 200 vets was carried out by VetUk in order to work out the average price of flea and tick treatment.

Through their enquiries they found that veterinary surgeries often have their own preferred treatment which they automatically recommend to patients.

In many cases this preferred, prescription-only treatment is much more expensive than other over-the-counter products, as they also combat other rare parasites such as lungworm and heartworm.

But Iain Booth, MD of VetUK, says many owners are unaware they’re paying a premium to repel such worms - branding the extra protection potentially “unnecessary”.

And it can push the cost of flea and tick treatment up to an average £139 annually - whereas owners can, in reality, get effective protection for just £30 a year.

Mr Booth said: “The majority of vets in the UK will have a preferred product when it comes to treating cats and dogs for fleas and ticks.

“But many of these products will treat more than just fleas and ticks.

“So when you are recommended a prescription-only product, you may be unaware your pet is also being treated for lungworm and heartworm - which are both very rare in Britain.

“It is a treatment you and your pet my not necessarily need.

“And when you compare this to the standard over-the-counter veterinary flea and tick treatment there is a big price difference.

“It is rare a pet owner will be asked whether they want this additional treatment, but they’re none-the-wiser, so they end up paying for it regardless.”

According to recent research, there’s an estimated 20m cat and dog owners, combined, in the UK.

Around 30 per cent - six million - regularly take their pet to visit a vet.

After canvassing costs throughout the UK, vets were recommending flea and tick treatment - such as Simparica, Bravecto, Broadline and Stronghold - costing an average £126 a year for cats and £139 for medium sized dogs.

However, budget flea and tick treatments - still containing the active ingredient fipronil - don’t require a prescription and can be purchased for as little as £35.97 annually for dogs, or £23.40 annually for cats.

And that equates to combined potential savings among pet owners of more than £600m.