Holiday Safety Tips

The holidays are a time to eat, drink, decorate, and visit with family and friends. However, these festive goodies and décor, while harmless to humans, can be hazardous to your pet’s health. To keep pets happy and healthy during the holiday season, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center is offering pet owners the following helpful hints:

Holiday sweets and chocolate are not for pets. Depending on the amount ingested, chocolate (bakers, semi sweet, milk and dark) can be potentially poisonous to many animals. In general, the less sweet the chocolate the more toxic it can be. In fact, unsweetened baking chocolate contains almost seven times more theobromine (a substance similar to caffeine) as milk chocolate. Vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, hyperactivity and increased thirst, urination and heart rate can be seen with the ingestion of as little as ¼ ounce of baking chocolate by a 10 lb dog.

Keep your pet on his or her normal diet. Any change of diet even for one meal, could give your pet severe indigestion and diarrhea. This is particularly true in older animals that have more delicate digestive systems.  Candies and gum containing large amounts of the sweetener Xylitol can also be toxic to pets, as ingestions of significant quantities can cause a fairly sudden drop in blood sugar, resulting in depression, and seizures. 

Do not give pets holiday leftovers and keep pets away from the garbage. Poultry bones can splinter and cause blockages. Greasy, spicy and fatty foods can cause stomach upset, and spoiled or moldy foods can cause food poisoning, tremors or seizures.

Alcohol and pets DO NOT mix. Place unattended alcoholic drinks where pets cannot reach them. If ingested, the animal can become very sick and weak and may go into a coma, possibly resulting in death from respiratory failure.

Keep aluminum foil and cellophane wrappers away from pets. They can cause vomiting and intestinal blockage.

Be careful with holiday floral arrangements. Lilies are commonly used this time of year and all varieties can cause kidney failure in cats. Safe alternatives are using silk floral arrangements instead. Poinsettias are considered to be low in toxicity; however they could cause mild vomiting if ingested by our pet.  Common yuletide plants such as mistletoe and holly berries can be potentially toxic to pets. Should a cat or a dog eat mistletoe, they could possibly suffer GI upset and cardiovascular problems. Holly can cause nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy.

Keep pets away from Christmas tree water. The water may contain fertilizers which if ingested can cause stomach upset.

Stagnant tree water can also act as a breeding ground for bacteria and if ingested can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

Consider decorating your tree with ornaments that are less enticing to pets, such as dried non toxic flowers, wood, fabric or pinecones.

Traditional decorations like ribbons and tinsel can become lodged in the intestines and cause obstruction. This is a very common problem, especially in cats!

Our thanks to the ASPCA for these great pet care tips!