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Thanksgiving Pet Safety Tips
Thanksgiving is right around the corner! For humans, this holiday means celebrating with family and of course, food! However, Thanksgiving can present plenty of opportunities for our furry friends to get into mischief. Check out these tips to keep your pets safe and healthy this turkey day!
- Cooked Bones and Trimmings: We know it's tempting to offer your pets the bones after you cook the turkey, but it can be very unsafe! Cooked bones are extremely brittle and can potentially cause intestinal blockages if they splinter in your dog's throat or digestive system. In extreme cases, they can cause severe damage, internal bleeding, or even death.
- Fat trimmings or skin: Dark turkey meat and turkey skin are very high in fat. Animals are more susceptible to pancreatitis from high-fat content foods. Symptoms include vomiting, depression, abdominal pain, and lethargy if such foods are ingested by your animals. If your pet exhibits any of these symptoms, consult your local veterinarian immediately.
- Bread Dough: Yeast in fresh bread dough can rise in your pet's stomach causing discomfort or more serious conditions if consumed. Keep all bread dough out of reach of your furry friends!
- Wrappings: Be sure to keep foils, waxed papers, turkey bags, strings, garbage bags, toothpicks, etc. away from your animals on turkey day. They can cause serious damage if ingested.
- Holiday Foods: Foods containing grapes, raisins, and currants can result in kidney failure in dogs. Chocolate and cocoa contain theobromine, a chemical highly toxic to dogs and cats. Ingestion in small amounts can cause vomiting and diarrhea, but large amounts can cause seizures and heart arrhythmias. Many sugarless gums and candies contain xylitol, a sweetener that is toxic to dogs that can cause a life-threatening drop in blood sugar and liver failure. Keep dishes loaded with onions away from your dog. Onions contain thiosulphate, which damages red blood cells and can cause anemia in dogs.
- Small Children: If your family includes small children, be sure you do not leave them unattended around pets. Not all dogs or cats are patient enough to tolerate children "playing" with them. To keep everyone safe and happy, remember to supervise children around your animals to prevent a Thanksgiving day disaster.
- Identification: With family constantly coming and going throughout the day, animals have a higher opportunity of escaping. Make sure you have updated ID tags on their collars, or write your phone number directly on their collars with permanent marker. Be sure dogs are wearing their licenses and are microchipped with updated contact information. The HSVC offers microchipping services for $15 including registration. Please call the Shelter at 805-646-6505 if you are in need of this service.
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