Holiday Safety Tips for Your Pets
The holidays are a wonderful time to celebrate with family and loved ones, but it can be a stressful and dangerous time for your family pet. Now that the holidays are just around the corner, All Pets Medical & Laser Surgical Center would like to offer the following tips to help keep your pet safe. Don’t spoil the holiday season with an unnecessary medical emergency.
- Hang breakables, tinsel, and other tempting decorations well out of paw’s reach. Tinsel, ribbon, and ornaments are especially dangerous to pets if chewed and swallowed.
- Place holiday plants out of pets reach. Some seasonal plants can be poisonous, including mistletoe (especially berries), holly berries, cedar, fir, and poinsettias (leaves and stems). Depending on the variety of plant, the signs can range from vomiting and diarrhea, to heart arrhythmias, difficulty breathing, seizures or coma.
- Watch out for electrical cords. Pets, especially puppies, often try to chew them and may get badly burned, shocked or electrocuted. Make sure your strands of lights, loose wires, and extension cords are out of reach.
- Metal ornament hooks can get caught in curious mouths. Use ribbon or yarn instead of hooks to hang your ornaments.
- A Christmas tree should stand on a flat, wide base. You may also want to anchor the tree with fishing line tied to a draper rod, a ceiling or a wall hook. Cats often see trees as excellent climbing posts. Whether your tree is live or artificial, both kinds of needles are indigestible. Christmas trees (firs, cedars, pines) contain volatile oils that can cause vomiting and diarrhea.
- Cover your tree stand tightly with skirting. The water from the tree base can cause mouth sores, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. Christmas tree preservatives contain sugar and fertilizer. The sugar will attract the pet, and the fertilizer can cause vomiting.
- Keep your pets away from holiday treats, especially chocolate. Theobromine and caffeine, active ingredients found in chocolate are toxins and can be fatal. Your Christmas meal can cause pancreatitis in your pet, which can lead to an extended stay at the veterinary hospital.
- If you plan to entertain, provide a “safe haven” to which your pets can retreat when they get overly excited or nervous and there is possibility of escape.
- Do not put ribbons or yarn around your pet’s neck. If you want to decorate your pet, invest in pet appropriate attire such as a holiday collar or bandana. These last for many years, are more attractive, and are a lot safer.
- If you are going away from home for the holidays, make sure your pet enclosures are secure, your pets are wearing proper identification and are microchipped, and arrangements have been made for their care. If boarding your pets, be sure all requirements are met for your facility of choice prior to the boarding time. Remember, the stricter the boarding requirements are for your pet, the safer it pet will be!
This information is brought to you by All Pets Medical & Laser Surgical Center at 111 Rock Prairie Road, 979-696-4411.
www.allpetsmedical.com |
