FLORIDA — While the holiday season is an enjoyable time to spend time with your pets, it is important to be extra cautious when it comes to their safety around holiday treats in order to avoid an emergency trip to the vet.
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is offering the following tips to keep your pets safe:
Keep people food away from pets. If you wish to share holiday treats with your pets, make or buy treats formulated just for them. The following people foods are especially hazardous for pets:
- Chocolate (this is toxic to dogs and cats)
- Other sweets and baked goods (an artificial sweetener often found in baked goods, candy and chewing gum, xylitol, has been linked to liver failure and death in dogs)
- Turkey and turkey skin (sometimes even in small amounts – can cause a life-threatening condition in pets known as pancreatitis)
- Table scraps (including gravy and meat fat – many foods that are healthy for people are poisonous to pets, including onions, raisins and grapes – table scraps can be especially fattening and hard for animals to digest and can cause pancreatitis)
- Yeast dough (this can cause painful gas and potentially dangerous bloating)
AVMA says to make sure you know how to get to your 24/7 emergency veterinary clinic before there's an emergency, and to always keep these numbers handy:
- Your veterinarian's clinic phone number
- 24/7 emergency veterinary clinic (if different)
- ASPCA Poison Control Hotline: 888-426-4435
- Pet Poison Helpline: 855-764-7661
View the rest of AVMA's tips on keeping your pets safe during the holidays here.