Holiday Hazards

By Dr. Lewis, Academy Animal Hospital

The holidays are here! With all the holiday cheer and family fun, we can sometimes forget that our pets can become ill due to the ingestion of many common holiday items. Below is a list of different decorations and food items that could send your beloved pet to the hospital.

Decorations:

●         Tinsel, Ribbon, Garland, and Glass Ornaments – Cats and dogs can easily mistake these shiny decorations for a toy. If swallowed they could cause many problems including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.  Also they can cause blocked intestines, which surgery may be need to correct.

●         Holiday lights – Have a new puppy that likes to chew? Be sure to hide or enclose all electrical cords! Electric shock can be caused by chewing or biting on the cords. Your pet could suffer from burns, difficulty breathing, abnormal heart rhythm, or worse.

●         Christmas Trees, Poinsettias, Mistletoes, and Holly Berries – All of these plants can be poisonous to your pet. Be sure to keep the water for your Christmas tree covered or out of reach. The chemicals added to prolong tree life and the tree sap its self is poisonous! Also keep all other plants up and out of reach from your pets!

Food:

●         Chocolate – Dark chocolate and bakers chocolate is very high in Theobromine and caffeine, which is toxic to pets. Milk Chocolate has slightly lower levels but is still dangerous. Be sure to clean up right after using any kind of chocolate you are baking with and never leave chocolate or any candy in reach of your pets.

●         Onions, Garlic, Raisins, and unbaked Yeast Dough – Most pet owners do not know that these common food items are poisonous to pets. So always be sure to clean up any mess left behind from cooking your yummy holiday dinner!

●         Bones and Corn on the cob – These are found on the top 10 list of most ingested items by pets! Keep lids on trash cans or take right outside or anywhere pets can not get into it!!

Always be sure to inform all family members the dangers of feeding pets people food. You can also keep pets in separate rooms until everyone is done eating and everything is cleaned up! Have a safe and fun holiday season!!!!