Christmas dangers for pets

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. But if you have a nosey pet, this beautiful holiday can turn into a little nightmare. In a very short time, you can find yourself waiting in a vet clinic. So taking precaution to save your Christmas from your Grinch-like pets is the best way! 🙂

Packaged gifts

Not only the gift in the packages, but the package itself can attract your cat and dog. It can chew or even swallow the package. These products may cause blockage in the stomach or intestine.

The situation is more serious if there is a bar of chocolate inside of the package, which is the most common poison, especially during the new year’s eve.

Snow globe

Perhaps one of the nicest gifts is the snow globes. But the liquid inside these snow globes is poisonous to your pet!  It is called “Ethylene glycol” and it is a sweet liquid and may taste appealing to your dog and cat. Poisoning may also occur as a result of contact with this liquid.

Clinical symptoms begin, depending on the amount consumed. Clinical findings are similar to alcohol (ethanol) poisoning. This fluid is particularly damaging the kidney and liver. Therefore, your pet will show clinical findings depending on the damage of these organs.

Food

Let me tell you what happens most often. Especially in the Christmas period, there are many different kinds of food on the table, and your pet can devour those in a blink of an eye. Keep in mind that the food that we eat contain a lot of calories for our little cats and dogs.

The difficulty of digestion may occur in dogs that eat too much. Don’t forget about the ingredients. Alcohol, onions, sweeteners, raisins are harmful to our pets.

Especially poultry products such as chicken, duck, turkey can also harm our little friends. The bones in poultry products are really small and pointy and it can damage the digestive system of your dog or cat.

Alcohol

Ethanol, isopropanol, and methyl alcohol are the most common alcohol types. And alcoholic beverages contain mostly ethanol. Taking it in small amounts can cause vomiting and drooling, but high amounts of alcohol can cause really serious nervous problems or even death in your dog.

Did you know?
Ethanol is also present in the fermented bread dough. So you should keep your pets away from this dough when making homemade bread.

Christmas Ornaments

The ornament products used mostly in the Christmas period and consist of mostly plastic and glass. If your dog tends to chew or eat these products, you should maybe decorate the top parts of your Christmas tree. These products harm your dog’s stomach or cause blockage. Glass products carry greater risk. Broken glass can seriously damage your dog’s digestive system!

Candles are one of the most used decoration products in this period. Scented or normal ones, they attract the attention of us as well as our dogs in particular, and if swallowed, may cause blockage in the gastrointestinal tract.

Fireworks

I know, it is really frightening. But we can not run out of new years eve, and of course from fireworks. Many pets are afraid of fireworks sounds. Their response to this fear varies from pet to pet. Even some of them react to firework-fear with aggression.

If you have observed any difference in your pet’s behavior during the Christmas, you consult a veterinarian and use the products prescribed by them (eg, sedatives, anti-anxiety).

Take some precautions to save your holiday 🙂 Merry Christmas