Keep Your Pets Safe and Your Holidays Happy

Whatever your idea for the perfect holiday season I’m sure it involves people, food, drink, gifts and more. Sounds like such fun. Keep Your Pets Safe and Your Holidays Happy.

No matter how much you love them, your pets may get somewhat overlooked during this happy yet busy time. We should all take time to be attentive to our pets and their safety during this season. Dog health is not always at the front of our minds until an accident occurs. Actually, if we can learn a few dog safety tips that benefit all our pets we can keep them safe all their lives. You can prevent dog problems in your home. It’s really easy once you understand what to look for.

This discussion of dog health and dog safety is not just for the holidays. It is for every day of their lives. Feel free to pass this information on to anyone you think might benefit from it.

I do not claim that the list below is a complete list of all the things you should be aware of to protect your pet. Most of it is just common sense.

A mistake involving any of the following items will probably create the need for an emergency trip to your vet and perhaps something even more serious. As you read this think dog crates and how they can help keep your pets safe during the holidays and every day.

If you learn just one thing that will protect your pet from illness, surgery or death then this writing will have been worth my time and yours.

The Christmas Experience and Pet Safety

Holiday plants: Mistletoe, Holly, Hibiscus and the ever popular Poinsettia can cause severe intestinal problems and worse. Keep these plants out of the reach of your pet.

Electrical Cords: Some pets cannot resist chewing on the cords. These cords can be taped to the floor to discourage chewing.

Christmas Trees: Some dogs enjoy chewing on your Christmas tree. Do not allow this.

Christmas Ornaments and wrapping material: Can be a major cause of choking.

The Fireplace: The warmth and beauty of our fireplaces at holiday time is cozy comfort for sure. Your fireplace and candles can cause problems if your pet is in the wrong place at the wrong time. A high degree of supervision is needed. A Hearth Gate, sometimes called a Fireplace Gate will solve this problem for children and pets.

The Tree: If you have a large pet then no decorating the tree with food items. Cover and protect the tree water basin so pets have not access at all. A bacterium in the tree water is harmful to pets.

Holidays Food and Pet Safety

There is food and drink for weeks around the house for family and for guests. Our pets would enjoy participating in this giant food fest but do not allow this. Always keep dog safety in mind.

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Taking a short look at some reasons why our pets need to be excluded from people food are;

Chocolate: Most of us know not to allow our pets to have chocolate, any chocolate at any time. Please be sure to keep all chocolate and candy products away, far away from your pets at all times. Chocolate can kill your pet.

Coffee: Contains chemicals that affect the urinary tract, the heart and their nervous system.

Uncooked food: Many times uncooked food may contain bones that can get caught in the throat not to mention a little something called E.Coli. Uncooked foods may also contain certain parasites which can cause ongoing hard to diagnose problems.

Rich and Fatty foods: The goodies we humans enjoy so much can be disastrous for pets. Have you ever heard your vet mention Pancreatitis?

Uncooked yeast products: Dog health is negatively affected when uncooked yeast products are swallowed. They can expand in the stomach and intestines as well as producing tons of gas. Too much gas and yeast related expansion can cause a rupture of the stomach or intestinal tract.

Macadamia nuts: This tasty nut gets the same warning as chocolate.

Grapes and Raisins: I remind you that grapes and raisins can cause kidney damage in your pet.

Onions and Onion Products: These are also hazardous to your pets.

Miscellaneous areas of concern for Pet Safety

Cigarettes and other Tobacco products: These products are extremely hazardous to pets. Just smoke outside, empty ashtrays and keep discarded filters away from pet areas.

Food Ties: This seems like a small thing but, the strings that hold that Turkey or Ham or Beef Roast together can be ingested by your pet after being removed from the finished product. Should this happen you may be in for a surgical emergency on a holiday weekend no less.

Discarded Foil and Plastic wrap: We all know what a keen sense of smell our pets have. If they manage to get into discarded foil, plastic and even candy wrappers ingestion could result in intestinal blockage. Again, surgery will be needed to remove the foreign matter. Cover your garbage and keep kitchens free from used cooking foil, plastic wrap and anything else your pet might decide to claim as their own.

Antifreeze: What would winter be like without another caution about antifreeze? It has a sweet taste, so I’m told. Every drop spilled should be wiped up and cleaned with soap and water to prevent your special friend from licking the spot. It doesn’t take much to cause a very serious problem.

Pet Anxiety: An important component of dog health. We should keep an eye out for our pets when guests are in our homes. Many pets cheerfully accept the additional people in the home but many do not. Our pets experience stress too.

Prevention

There are many ways to prevent illness or death of a pet during the holidays. We’re not just talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas here. There’s New Years, July 4th and Halloween, birthday and other parties, barbeques and the list goes on and on. We need to do our best to always be alert to the dangers. It is after all our job, our responsibility as pet parents to safeguard our pets so they can live long and happy lives.

Don’t be bashful about informing guests that they are not allowed to give your pets food of any kind. They should understand and if they don’t you should show them the door. Just my opinion.

One of the things that can make a world of difference is a dog crate. Think about it for a moment and you will understand that your pet, especially if it is a dog, will enjoy their own special place, a place of safety where they can retreat into. Instead of being locked in another room or outside, your pet is safely resting in their dog crate in close proximity to their family. They don’t feel separated from you. They can still see and hear you and everything going on around them, safely from their dog crate.

Happy Holidays to everyone and remember that pet safety is not just for the holidays. It’s 365 and 24/7 and after all, they deserve it.