Daily Paws

Pet news, tips, entertainment and opinions from VetLocator.com

Posts Tagged ‘keeping pets safe at halloween’

Keeping your Pet Safe this Halloween

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

The scary night is almost here!!!!!  Make it a fun and safe evening by keeping these safety tips in mind:

1.  Make sure you have your pet either safely tucked away in a kennel or spare room with music or TV playing in the background, so they are not too disturbed by trick or treaters.  A dog on the loose, barking and getting agitated is no fun for the dog, the trick or treaters or for you.  Sometimes your dog or cat can escape when you open the door to give candy, so secure them safely and enjoy the night.

2. Keep an eye on candy and party food around your pet. Chocolate can be toxic to dogs and so can the sweetener xylitol. Rasins and grapes also pose serious health hazards and are common to find in treats kids bring home.  Candy and food wrappers smell good and can present a choking hazard. And anything I didn’t mention when consumed by a pet can make them sick.  Keep pets away from this stuff.

3.  If you are having a party, keep an eye on alcoholic beverages.  We’ve all seen or heard stories of different animals who like to drink.  How sad that their owners allow it, not to mention that sometimes this can lead to a pet’s death.

4.  Decorations, candles, cords, dangerous hazards.  Halloween, like Christmas, has lots of opportunities for problems to pets and humans.  Keep your house and yard kid and pet safe when you decorate.

5. Keep your emergency numbers at hand for your pets in case you do have a problem that night.

Have a happy and safe Halloween from all of us at VetLocator.com Daily Paws!!

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Posted in Pet Health, Pet Inspiration, Pet Pictures, Pet Tips, Picture of the Day, VetLocator news | 2 Comments »

Scary pet holiday coming right up

Friday, October 21st, 2011
Jack-o-latern
Image via Wikipedia

Are you ready for Halloween this year?

Are your pets????

Here’s our annual reminder to be good to your pets and keep them safe during this very scary time of year:

  • If you purchase candy for the trick or treaters – make sure you put it in a safe spot, away from hungry, curious dogs and cats (and kids for that matter). Chocolate is toxic for our pets and can cause death if eaten in enough quantity.
    We’ve listed some signs of chocolate toxicity below.
  • During trick or treat night, keep your pets locked in a room that has some soothing music or the tv on to keep them calm.
  • Even though they are inside, make sure your pets have their id on in the event something happens and they get out, get spooked (pun intended), and run away.
  • If you have your own trick or treaters that come home with candy, make sure they also put their candy somewhere your pets can’t get to it. Children sorting through their evening’s loot and spreading their candy out is a common way pets can get chocolate candy to eat.

Signs of chocolate toxicity

Pets who consume chocolate can experience vomiting, diarrhea, excessive thirst and urination, irregular heartbeat, tremors, seizures and even death. These problems are mainly caused by a substance in chocolate called theobromine.

Chocolate can be harmful to dogs (the most common chocolate sneakers), cats, birds, rats and ferrets. The amount of chocolate and the pet’s own system will determine what effect chocolate has, so if you suspect your pet has ingested chocolate and they are experiencing any adverse effects, get them to your veterinarian to be checked, right away.

We want everyone to have a safe Halloween night.

Related articles
  • Halloween Chocolate a Serious Threat to Pets (nlm.nih.gov)

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Posted in Pet Tips | No Comments »

It’s about to be a scary time for pets…watch out

Sunday, October 17th, 2010
Jack-o-latern
Image via Wikipedia

We live in an area of the country where people decorate for Halloween as much as they do for Christmas, and that is a LOT of lights and sounds and goings on.  And we happen to live in a neighborhood where there is a lot of trick or treating visitors – hundreds of children knock on our door each year.  It is fun for us, and for them, but it’s not fun for our pets.

Here’s our annual reminder to be good to your pets and keep them safe during this very scary time of year:

  • If you purchase candy for the trick or treaters – make sure you put it in a safe spot, away from hungry, curious dogs and cats (and kids for that matter).  Chocolate is toxic for our pets and can cause death if eaten in enough quantity.
    We’ve listed some signs of chocolate toxicity below.
  • During trick or treat night, keep your pets locked in a room that has some soothing music or the tv on to keep them calm.
  • Even though they are inside, make sure your pets have their id on in the event something happens and they get out, get spooked (pun intended), and run away.
  • If you have your own trick or treaters that come home with candy, make sure they also put their candy somewhere your pets can’t get to it.  Children sorting through their evening’s loot and spreading their candy out is a common way pets can get chocolate candy to eat.

Signs of chocolate toxicity

Pets who consume chocolate can experience vomiting, diarrhea, excessive thirst and urination, irregular heartbeat, tremors, seizures and even death. These problems are mainly caused by a substance in chocolate called theobromine.

Chocolate can be harmful to dogs (the most common chocolate sneakers), cats, birds, rats and ferrets.  The amount of chocolate and the pet’s own system will determine what effect chocolate has, so if you suspect your pet has ingested chocolate and they are experiencing any adverse effects, get them to your veterinarian to be checked, right away.

We want everyone to have a safe Halloween night.

Related articles
  • Halloween Chocolate a Serious Threat to Pets (nlm.nih.gov)
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