Pet Safety During The Winter Holiday Season

This holiday season will be filled with family gatherings and holiday activities and we just want to give you some tips on how to keep your pet safe during this time of year!

  1. Make sure that you know everything you need to in case you have an emergency.
    • If you are traveling have a list of emergency veterinarians on your travel route
    • If you are not traveling please click here for the information of the emergency clinics near us.
    • We will keep you apprised of our holiday schedule through facebook, email, and our website make sure to check back
  2. Now as we all know part of the holiday season is food. Whether this be candy and sweets or even just the holiday feast they can be unsafe for our pets! Please make sure to only give your animals food you know is safe. Click here for a list of unsafe foods!
  3. Holiday decorations are a great way to get in the holiday spirit and to have fun during this time. We just want to warn you have some hazards for our pets that come with this fun activity.
    • If you have a cat you know that they like to climb the Christmas tree. However it is not just cats that you need to worry about your tree falling over on them. The ornaments on the trees may attract your pets to play with them, which can also lead to the tree falling over. If you put up a tree please secure it to something; the ceiling, a door frame, or anything you know won't come down.
    • Animals will most likely drink the water that is in your tree stand if you have a live tree. Keep this in mind if you are thinking of adding anything to the water for the tree.
    • Ornaments themselves can be dangerous. They can cause intestinal upset, injury, or blockages. If your pets are really interested in the ornaments keep any breakables, string ornaments, or those made from food out of their reach.
    • Pets like to chew on electrical wires. Be aware of this and monitor your pets if they do seem to like the wires then please do not leave them unattended with the electric decorations.
    • Many of the holiday plants such as mistletoe are toxic to pets please click here for a list of these plants. If your pets eat one call us or one of the emergency clinics.
    • If you light candles do not leave your pets alone with them as they may knock them over and cause a fire.
    • Potpourris can also be a problem whether it be the liquid or solid kind please keep it out of your pets reach.
  4. Holiday parties are a great time.
    • Make sure that all your guests know you have animals so if they are scared they are not startled or if you have allergies or a compromise immune system they can take the proper precautions.
    • Allow your pets to have a location in during the party that is quiet and away from the guests.
    • If you are allowing your guests to bring their animals make sure that you either know that they get along with yours, have them come early or on a different day for the animals to acclimate to each other while being supervised, or they are kept separated.
    • Animals can have anxiety too. If your pets are anxious around large crowds call us to find out things you can do to help them. If you have exotic pets know that they tend to stress out easy and should be kept separate from the party.
    • People who do not have pets do not know to monitor the doors when they are coming and going from a house with pets. Due to this pets tend to escape. Please watch your pets closely when people are using the doors to prevent this from happening. We do not want our furry friends to be lost!
      • If you do have a concern for your animals bolting make sure they have ID tags on their collars and you make want to invest in a microchip; call us for more information.
    • If your pets that will eat food off the table or out of the trash please clear the counters and serving areas once you are done. If your meal or its preparation involved bones, string, or bags please throw these in a covered locked trash container outside to prevent your pets from getting them.

Please have fun this holiday season! We would love to see any pictures of your pets enjoying the weather or holiday festivities!

The source of this information was AVMA please visit their website for more tips for the holidays and other great information! AVMA