Yes, it’s that time of year again; all these fun and delightful holidays are right around the corner. We all love these traditional holidays, but do our pets? Well, this can be a dangerous time of year for our pets, and veterinary clinics all across the country will be flooded with phone calls about sick and injured pets. I want to give you a little insight so you and your pet can enjoy the holidays.
Holiday meals
Your pets’ keen sense of smell leads him right into your kitchen as you pull out that Thanksgiving bird… “Wow, he thinks, what I would do for a hunk of that huge turkey leg!” What he doesn’t know, is that along with that hunk of meat, comes a belly-ache, vomiting, diarrhea, and a stay at the local veterinary clinic with lots of needles and yucky medicine.
People-food is often too rich for our pets. The dog and cat digestive tract is just not equipped to handle all the fat and spice in our meals. The best policy is just don’t feed ‘em anything but their regular pet food. If you simply must indulge those begging eyes, please avoid the fatty portions of the meat. One small (notice I said small) piece of baked lean poultry, with no skin or seasonings should be okay.
Holiday meals
Your pets’ keen sense of smell leads him right into your kitchen as you pull out that Thanksgiving bird… “Wow, he thinks, what I would do for a hunk of that huge turkey leg!” What he doesn’t know, is that along with that hunk of meat, comes a belly-ache, vomiting, diarrhea, and a stay at the local veterinary clinic with lots of needles and yucky medicine.
People-food is often too rich for our pets. The dog and cat digestive tract is just not equipped to handle all the fat and spice in our meals. The best policy is just don’t feed ‘em anything but their regular pet food. If you simply must indulge those begging eyes, please avoid the fatty portions of the meat. One small (notice I said small) piece of baked lean poultry, with no skin or seasonings should be okay.
Be careful where you put the left-over Halloween candy; chocolate is a big no-no! Chocolate can contain high amounts of fat and caffeine-like stimulants known as methylxanthines, more specifically theobromine. If your pet ingests enough chocolate, he could experience vomiting, diarrhea, tremors, seizures, hyperactivity, and even death in severe cases. The darker the chocolate, the greater the risk of problems. Typically, 20 ounces of milk chocolate will cause serious problems with a 10-pound dog. That same dog can only eat two ounces of dark chocolate or baking chocolate. The white chocolates don’t contain a lot of theobromine, but do contain lots of fat, which can still land him in the veterinary clinic with vomiting and diarrhea, as well as pancreatitis, a life-threatening inflammatory condition of the pancreas.
Here’s a list of other foods to avoid feeding to pets:
· Avocado
· Chocolate
· Coffee
· fatty foods
· macadamia nuts
· moldy or spoiled foods
· onions or onion powder
· raisins
· grapes
· salt
· yeast dough
· garlic
· artificial sweeteners.
Hopefully, this will help make you and your pet’s holidays a little safer and a lot more fun; since you won’t be spending them at your veterinarian’s office.
· Avocado
· Chocolate
· Coffee
· fatty foods
· macadamia nuts
· moldy or spoiled foods
· onions or onion powder
· raisins
· grapes
· salt
· yeast dough
· garlic
· artificial sweeteners.
Hopefully, this will help make you and your pet’s holidays a little safer and a lot more fun; since you won’t be spending them at your veterinarian’s office.
