A SPA vet is offering advice to animal lovers about how to look after pets during bonfire night.

Employees of the Townsend Veterinary Practice, which is on the North Street Industrial Estate, have been handing out leaflets and putting up posters to help prevent animal distress at this time of year.

Customers at the practise can get all the information they need and also pick up a free CD about the problem. Visitors can also buy a dog diffuser that can be plugged into a household socket to calm their worried pet.

Vet Tony Barnby, from Townsend Veterinary Practice, said: "It is a problem for pets at this time of year because it only happens now and then so dogs don't get used to the sound.

"Dogs can get frightened but thankfully they are hardly ever injured."

Advice given includes not to punish dogs when they are scared or to fuss over them too much. Keeping pets indoors also helps as well as putting on background noise to dull the loud fireworks.

As well as the distress caused to pets by fireworks, other animals may also be in danger because of bonfires.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) has also urge people to be aware of potential dangers to wildlife. They have advised that bonfires should not be built until the day they are lit to save small animals from burning to death.

Kay Bullen, a trustee of the BHPS, said: "If material is stored on open ground in advance of having a bonfire, it's crucial to dismantle it and move it to another spot just before lighting."