Next week starts the unveiling of the holidays and each month brings a new time of celebration as well as potential peril for our furry friends.
While Thanksgiving can be a time of thanks, it’s also a time for wayward (and even polite) dogs to eat food they shouldn’t get into. This includes turkey, fried or traditionally cooked, stuffing, pie, cake and more.
Food outside of a dog’s regular food can lead to an upset stomach (gastroenteritis) and pancreatitis. Vomiting and diarrhea are common sequelae.
Cats are a little better tempered to moderate what they put in their mouths but come Christmas and Hanukkah, there are the perils of ribbon and string ingestion for our feline friends as well as dietary indiscretion from the canine clan as well as foreign bodies from ornaments and small toys.
Fires can start from knocked over menorahs and tumbling tress come with their own set of issues. Keep things safely secured and away from being easily knocked down.
Holiday Lillies look lovely but cause kidney failure when any part of the plant is ingested by cats. And for all the holidays, especially New Years, keep an eye on the alcohol. Companion animal ingestion can be very toxic and require emergency care. The holidays are what you make of them, a warm time surrounded by loved ones, friends and family but they can be a time of great hazard for a cat or dog that doesn’t appreciate the discovery of a new land or the close call that the Israelites had as the oil ran low or the birth of Jesus Christ.
Be safe this holiday season and make it a good one for your entire family – human and companion animal!