Hi everyone this blog is a little different today we want to warn all of our pet lovers out there of the holiday dangers to your pets. We know the holidays are a joyous time of year and that having your pets there makes it that much more special. Most dangers are pretty self evident but there are a few that could surprise you so here goes.
When decorating your house you may not realize that most of those decorations can be harmful if not deadly to your beloved pets. Let’s start with the tree, when picking out your tree you may have a preference for real or fake trees both have their own dangers. A real tree needs to be watered as most of you know a dog or cat is attracted to any type of liquid and with the sweet smelling sap in the water it makes it that much more attractive. But the liquids that seep from the tree into the water is very deadly to your pet and can cause vomiting, seizures, and even death. When decorating your tree keep in mind that anything below the middle of the tree is accessible to your pets and can be broken or ingested. Glass bulbs have a danger or being knocked off the tree and broken a shiny glass bulb looks like a playful ball to your pet. When broken glass is on the floor your pet can easily cut their paws or try to ingest the shiny glass which can cause serious intestinal problems. If possible keep all candy off the tree, the sugar in a candy cane can cause intestinal upset and the shards of a broken candy cane can cause choking to occur. Tinsel and ribbons should be kept out of pets reach they are nontoxic but can pose a serious chocking hazard and can cause intestinal problems which can lead to death.
Most people enjoy decorating their homes for Santa paws’ arrival, we deck the halls and put out the candles and lay out all of the holiday plants. When decorating keep in mind that anything left at your pet’s level is fair game for them to chew, ingest, and play with. Holiday plants can pose serious health issues if ingested by both cats and dogs. Poinsettias juice is very toxic if ingested and can cause vomiting, frothing at the mouth, and even death. Mistletoe and holly berries can cause vomiting, seizures, muscle spasms, and death if ingested. When lighting candles make sure there is no way for your pets to reach them, both cats and dogs are attracted to the bright flickering lights of a flame. Candles can cause serious burns to your pets and if hot wax is dripped on them it can scald their skin. Keep in mind that a cat can jump up onto high shelves and access the contents of the said shelf. Outside decorations are beautiful to look at but keep in mind that the wires to electronic decorations can easily be chewed through by a frisky dog or cat and can lead to serious burns or electrical shocks.
The cases of pancreatitis in family pets increase dramatically around the holidays due to well intentioned owners feeding their pet’s human food. The spices that are in human food can cause all types of intestinal problems and can lead to serious side affects and even death. The bones from turkey and ham should always be kept away from your pets, bones can splinter and cause injury or death to your dog or cat. Raisins, onions, grapes, avocadoes and certain citrus fruits are poisonous to family pets and should be kept far from their reach. One of the worst offenders and most common is chocolate we all have it in our homes especially around the holidays. Chocolate in all forms is very poisonous to both dogs and cats and has serious side effects including vomiting, diarrhea, panting, trouble breathing, excessive thirst and urination, irregular heart rhythm and seizures. The worst types of chocolate are the purest forms including cocoa and dark chocolate.
Human medications can be very deadly to our pets and can cause severe side effects including intestinal issues, seizures, heart arrhythmia, and even death. If you are having guests over for the holidays supply them with a safe place to keep their medication so that fido or fluffy can’t get into them. Human medications even the over the counter ones can look like a tasty treat to our pets. Ingestion of human medication by our pets is the number one reason for calls to the ASPCA poison control.
When throwing a party over the holidays the best thing is to keep your pets in a separate room where they can’t get into anything or escape or hire a pet sitter to board them for a night. Having guests over can be very distracting to you and your pets and if they are not supervised it can lead to disaster. Guests can leave alcoholic beverages down where the pets can reach them and they can ingest it causing serious issues and sometimes death. Confetti, noise makers and streamers are at most parties and if left unattended a sneaky cat or frisky dog can think they are toys or treats. Confetti is nontoxic but if ingested can cause intestinal problems including diarrhea and vomiting. Streamers are also nontoxic but if ingested they can cause diarrhea, vomiting and intestinal blockage leading to death. Noise makers can startle a pet and lead them to run out of an open door or window and before you know it they are lost. If ingested a noise maker can cause serious issues from chocking to intestinal blockage to death.
We all want our pets to have a safe and happy holidays and I hope this has helped you keep your pet safe from the everyday dangers that are all around us during the holidays. From Pretty Paws Pet Sitting we want to wish each of our clients, future clients and their pets a very happy holidays!
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