The holidays are here, its time for beautiful lights, holiday decorations and plants. We want you to have a happy and safe holiday season with your family, friends, and pets.  We want you to help avoid some of the top holiday hazards to pets during the holidays which can help save your pet’s life.

Holiday Tinsel and Ornaments

Tinsel is not toxic but it is very attractive to cats especially who can attempt to eat it while playing with it and end up with a life threatening linear foreign body that requires emergency surgery. In addition, the bright and colorful ornaments are very attractive to both cats and dogs. These ornaments could become foreign objects if ingested or they could break and lacerate your pet’s mouth, throat, intestines and could also be a choking hazard.

Holiday Candles and Lighting

Holiday candles are very common to get everyone in a festive mood but the twinkling flame can be very attractive to pets, especially cats, who are easily able to reach such objects off the floor. These could obviously cause direct burns to your pet but like any candle could also cause a fire hazard just by a curious kitty knocking it off its shelf causing a house fire and possible human and pet death.

Also, does your pet like to chew? Electrical shock is a common emergency during the holidays unfortunately due to the increased number of electrical cords in the household and pets chewing on them. Always check your electrical cords for signs of fraying or chewing and using a 3 prong grounded extension cord can be used as a safety precaution.

Delicious Holiday Meals

These delicious holiday meals can be full of fat and other seasonings which can be harmful to your pet.  Avoid giving your pet table scraps as the high fat content of certain foods can cause serious conditions such as pancreatitis which require hospitalization.  Also be careful when throwing away your fat trimmings as even the best behaved dog can knock over a trash bin and get into the trash.  And you should never give your dog leftover bones as they can splinter and cause obstruction and/or lacerations of your dog’s digestive system which often requires emergency surgery.

Toxic Holiday Plants

There are certain common holiday plants that you should avoid including

Christmas tree needles can cause oral irritation, vomiting, diarrhea, and lacerations amongst other symptoms.

Mistletoe can cause significant vomiting and diarrhea and even collapse, erratic behavior and death when ingested

Poinsettias can cause irritation to the mouth and cause vomiting and diarrhea and other GI disturbances.

Lilies are extremely toxic to cats and will cause renal failure and death in a very short amount of time. If you receive a bouquet of flowers ensure that they do not contain Lilies.