Keep Your Pet Safe This Holiday!
It's great to share your Thanksgiving feast with your furry family members, but not everything is safe for them to eat. Heres what they can and can't have:
Turkey is safe if you follow these guidelines! If you decide to feed your pet a small bite of turkey, make sure it’s boneless (and skinless) light meat that's well-cooked. Raw or undercooked turkey, which may contain salmonella bacteria. Keep the leftover carcass (and all bones) away from your pet, too. Dogs and cats have a hard time processing fatty foods like turkey skin, and even small pieces of bone can lead to gastrointestinal injury.
Garlic, onion, leeks, and chives are common in many Thanksgiving dishes and are toxic to dogs and cats – they can cause destruction of their red blood cells. Avoid giving your pet a bite of anything cooked with these ingredients, like green beans, potatoes, stuffing, or gravy.
Don't spoil your pet’s holiday by giving them access to raw yeast bread dough. When a dog or cat ingests raw bread dough, the yeast will continue to convert the sugars in the dough to carbon dioxide gas and alcohol. This can result in bloated drunken pets, which could become a life-threatening emergency, requiring hospitalization for your pal.
If you plan to bake Thanksgiving desserts, be sure your pets keep their noses out of the mixing bowl, especially if it includes raw eggs—they could contain salmonella bacteria that may lead to food poisoning.
Also, if you're using the artificial sweetener xylitol (found in some peanut butter) in any desserts, be aware that this can be fatal if consumed by pets.
A nice box of chocolates looks great on your table. However, chocolate can be harmful to both dogs and cats and can cause vomiting, diarrhea, high blood pressure, seizures, and other symptoms.
While your family enjoys a special meal, give your cat and dog a small feast of their own! Offer them made-for-pets chew bones. Or stuff their usual dinner—perhaps with a few added tidbits of turkey, vegetables (try sweet potato, plain pumpkin or green beans) —inside a Chelsy's Toys Snuffle Bag... Don't worry, they're machine washable. They’ll be happily occupied for awhile, working hard to extract their dinner from the toy. However, don't allow your pets to overindulge, as they could wind up with a case of stomach upset, diarrhea or even worse—an inflammatory condition of the pancreas known as pancreatitis.
Decoration Dangers
Although pumpkins and decorative corn aren't toxic, ingesting too much can give your lil' buddy a bad case of tummy upset. You'll also want to be careful with candles that curious puppies and kitties could knock over, as well as any decorations that have small pieces that your pet could easily choke on. Many people enjoy brightening up their dinner table with a pretty floral arrangement. Just make sure you are familiar with which plants are poisonous to dogs and cats. Some popular fall plants often found in festive decorations that are toxic to both include:
- Autumn crocus
- Chrysanthemum
- Acorns from oak trees
If you suspect your dog or cat has consumed a poisonous plant or substance, act fast. Contact your veterinarian, an emergency veterinary clinic, or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (ASPCA APCC) right away.