Keeping your Pets Safe this Holiday Season

Fall is my favorite season of the year - or it was. Once I started working in emergency clinics, it quickly became the busiest time of the year. It would start the night of Halloween and go without interruption at a high pace until New Year’s Day. It doesn’t help that there are some seasonal diseases, such as parvovirus, that bring sick and sad puppies to our wards in the fall as well.

Environmental Risks

The fall season, with its beautiful color changing leaves, allows pets and their owners to explore some of the most beautiful scenery across the country. It also brings a slew of risks.

• Snakes - While snakes are trying to find a burrow to hibernate for the winter, dogs and their insatiable curiosity may come nose-to-nose with cranky snakes looking forward to their long nap.
• Mushrooms and mold - With cooler temperatures and increased rainfall, mushrooms and molds are in their prime. While 99% of mushrooms show none-to-little toxicity, the remaining 1% are highly toxic and can be deadly for pets.
• Acorns - While they aren’t toxic, acorns can cause blockages in the intestinal tract of dogs or cause renal or liver damage if eaten in large quantities.
• Visibility - The sun sets earlier and walking your dog at nighttime becomes more common. Your pet will be less visible to traffic unless you put a reflective harness or collar on him. You will also have less visibility to what shenanigans he is getting into, such as getting into leftover wrappers, cigarette stubs, or chicken bones thrown on the sidewalks.
• Rodenticides and cold weather poisons - Traditionally, there is an increase in their use in the winter months when rodents seek shelter from colder temperatures in our homes and offices. Rodenticides are highly toxic to pets.
• Antifreeze - One of the deadliest threats to both dogs and cats.

Food Risks

O joy! I will stop dampening your mood by bashing autumn’s pitfalls and rejoice on the cheerful celebrations that come with the end of the year instead. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are some of the most joyous celebrations in the United States, unless… oh no… your pet runs into one of the following dangers, leading them straight to the ER.

• Halloween candy - Chocolate, wrappers, Xylitol, and other artificial sweeteners. Chocolate is toxic to dogs at high doxes - dark and baking chocolate being more dangerous than milk chocolate. Candy wrappers can lead to intestinal upset, even blockages in severe cases. Xylitol, an artificial sweetener, is highly toxic to dogs' livers.
• Leftover holiday foods - Foods from Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner like turkey skin, ham, gravy, and nuts are high fat foods that can lead to pancreatitis. Bones can become lodged or splinter in the digestive tract. 
• Yeast - Yeast can cause gastro-intestinal upset or dangerous bloat in dogs.
• Raisins and grapes - These can cause renal failure in pets.
• Onions and garlic - Both are toxic foods for dogs and cats.
• Alcohol - Just a few ounces of alcohol can result in a pet’s death.

Watch out for trash digging funny business from your favorite pet: dogs more frequently than cats, will sneak and attempt to get into the dangerous items you tried to prevent: leftovers, wrappings, broken decorations. 

Holiday Decoration Risks

Now that I have ruined all your best intentions for home cooking for the holidays, let’s revisit decorations. I love to decorate my home for the holiday season. While it brings much joy and warmth, it also brings its fair share of temptations for your pets, namely, to empty your wallet with unnecessary trips to the ER. Let ‘s review the list:

• Christmas tree tinsel - Can cause severe obstructions in dogs and cats with a linear foreign body that bunches the intestines together and, at worst, perforates them.
• Breakable ornaments - Can cause internal or external injuries depending on ingestion or roughness of play.
• Ingested ornaments - Yes, some dogs like to swallow ornaments whole, which can cause blockages in their intestines.
• Water additives in the Christmas tree water - Sugar can increase the level of bacteria, leading to gastroenteritis and aspirin is toxic to dogs and cats.
• Falling or tipping Christmas trees - Can lead to injuries.
• Power cords - Pets chewing on these can cause lethal electrical shock or severe burns in the mouth.
• Batteries - Chewing can cause burns to the mouth.
• Candles - Can cause severe burns to the pet or to the house.
• Liquid potpourris - Ingestion can cause burns, and if spilled, eye or skin problems.
• Solid potpourris - If eaten, can cause gastrointestinal problems.
• Snow globes - Snow globes contain ethylene glycol, which is highly poisonous to dogs and cats.
• Salt dough ornaments - If ingested can cause severe electrolyte imbalances (so does rock salt on the streets to melt ice in the winter).
• Mistletoe and holly - Can cause gastro-intestinal upset and cardiac problems.
• Poinsettias - Can cause mild to moderate gastrointestinal upset.
• Lilies - Can cause fatal renal failure in cats.

Have I ruined your excitement for the holiday season yet? Call me the Grinch! Thank me later once you saved yourself a trip to the ER. Happy holidays!

If you believe that your pet has been poisoned or eaten something they shouldn’t have, call your veterinarian or local veterinary emergency clinic immediately.

Additionally, here is a list of pet poison helplines:

ASPCA Poison Control Hotline: 888-426-4435

Pet Poison Helpline: 855-764-7661

Ariane Kaplan DVM, MPH

Dr. Kaplan earned her DVM and master’s in public health from Tufts University in Massachusetts, followed by a small animal rotating internship at VCA in Phoenix, Arizona.

She practiced small animal medicine and emergency medicine before becoming a Diagnostics Professional Services Veterinarian 6 years ago. She is currently the Director of Veterinary Relations at Ellie Diagnostics.

In her free time, she consults with her 4 misfit cats on good manners and how to live together in harmony.