The Pet Sit Blog

Keep the Fun and Lose the Fright

October 23, 2009

Posted in: Uncategorized

Halloween can be extremely fun for humans, but a dreadful experience for pets.  The ASPCA offers these tips for all pet owners to ensure there are no scaredy cats this Halloween:

Skip the sweets. Several popular Halloween treats are toxic to pets. Candies containing the artificial sweetener xylitol can be poisonous to dogs. Even small amounts of xylitol sweetener can cause a sudden drop in blood sugar, which leads to depression, lack of coordination and seizures. Chocolate candy can also pose a threat.  Significant chocolate ingestion may include vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity and increased thirst, urination and heart rate and even seizures.

Watch out for those wrappers. Cats especially love to play with candy wrappers, but ingesting aluminum foil or cellophane can cause intestinal blockage and vomiting.

Trick-or-treating is for kids, not pets. During trick-or-treating hours it is best to keep pets in a room away from your front door. “Halloween brings a flurry of activity with visitors constantly arriving at the door, and pets may escape the safety of their home,” recommends Gail Buchwald, senior vice president of the ASPCA Pet Adoption Center in Manhattan “Be sure that your pet has identification tags should he or she accidentally get loose” she said.  Make sure your pet is wearing a collar with tags or is microchipped.

Careful with costumes! If you dress up your pet for Halloween, make sure the costume does not limit his movement, hearing, sight or ability to breathe or bark. Also check the costume for choking hazards. A smart alternative to dressing your pet from head-to-paw? A simple, festive Halloween bandana.

Decorations can be dangerous. Re-think putting candles in Jack-O-Lanterns. Pets can easily knock over Jack-O-Lanterns and start a fire, and curious kittens are particularly at risk of getting burned by candle flames. Also take care to prevent your pets from having access to wires and cords from holiday decorations. If chewed, a wire can damage your pet’s mouth from shards of glass or plastic, or deliver a potentially lethal electrical shock.

For additional information on pet-care tips, visit http://www.petsit.com.