Click here to read the first column and watch the first video, Puppy Love, in which Smillie and Magnus discuss whether parents should get a dog once their children have started school.

According to the animal welfare charity the RSPCA, some nine million people own cats in Britain and 6.5 million own dogs. We are clearly a nation in love with our pets, but the same charity recently revealed the number of pets being abandoned by owners in the UK has grown by almost 25 per cent in a year.

So, if you’re not sure if you should invest in a pony for your child, who may grow bored of the reality of mucking out, or you’re considering getting a dog to help reinvigorate your social life but want to know the pros and cons, then Perfect Pets is on hand to help.

This new series of columns and videos aims to help readers make crucial decisions about bringing a pet into their lives. In conjunction with The Saturday Times’ supplement Body & Soul, Carol Smillie and clinical animal behaviourist Emma Magnus dispense weekly advice and information.

Over the coming weeks, Smillie and Magnus will explore, among other subjects, the advantages and disadvantages of giving children a pet rabbit, why a cat may help with depression and why it’s important to think about your lifestyle before taking on a dog.

Owning a pet, whether it is a dog or a more exotic creature such as a snake, is a responsibility that one should not take lightly. Getting good advice and thinking realistically about how the pet would fit into your lifestyle may help to prevent a purchase that is later regretted and re-homed.

Smillie is well known as the former presenter of BBC 1’s Changing Rooms; however, as a mother of three young children she has plenty of experience of family pets. She supports The University of Glasgow’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and in particular its efforts to raise funds for a new Small Animal Hospital. The faculty treated Smillie’s own beloved pet Labrador, Meg, when she developed cancer. Sadly, Meg has passed away, but the Smillie family now have a seven-month old puppy called Jess to keep them busy.

Magnus, a member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, has been practising since 1995 when she qualified with a degree in Zoology and a Masters degree in Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare. She has run a referral practice for veterinary surgeons within East Anglia since 1996 seeing owners of dogs, cats, and rabbits. Magnus was a regular contributor to each of BBC1’s Barking Mad series and is Features Editor of the small livestock journal Fur & Feather and is a co-founder of the Rabbit Behaviour Advisory Group