The Holidays: Keeping Your Pets Safe

As the holiday season approaches, many Canadians are getting ready for Christmas and other festivities! While the hustle and bustle begins in stores and our homes, we tend to focus on the decorating, baking and other traditions. It is this time of year that we tend to be so wrapped up, no pun intended, in our busy schedules; this means we need to be extra careful around the house if we have pets. Whether it be Christmas decorations, holiday baking, poultry bones or small toys, it is very important to keep all the dangerous human things away from your furry family members.

Christmas tree decorations can make all kinds of hazards for our pets! Beginning with the lights themselves, cats for one are nosey little critters and tend to love chewing on things this item can potentially give them a good zap, or worse. We saw it first hand on the classic movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation when the cat chewed the tree lights and blew himself and half the living room in a puff of smoke and fur. The movie may have put a humorous spin on it, but it can be a serious problem. Not only the lights can be tempting for them but small ornaments, tinsel and the sturdiness of the tree itself can be very harmful to our pets. Us humans all get excited to decorated over the holidays, so just make sure our furry little friends are enjoying it just as much.

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate, that is what many households see around the holidays. This season tends to be a great excuse to pig out with all of our favourite festive treats, but it is no secret that chocolate can be absolutely life threatening to cats and dogs. Chocolate contains theobromine which can be deadly to our pets, and can is usually more easily accessible for them around this time of year; that being said, it is incredibly important to make sure all our human treats are fully out of reach and secure.

The holidays are a great opportunity to spend quality time with family and friends, and of course includes our pets. Especially this year amongst the pandemic, many might be spending a lot more time than usual with their furry family members, so make sure this holiday season is safe and special for all in your home!

Charlie's Christmas helps pets in the DTES | BC SPCA

Photo – BC SPCA

Make sure everyone has a home for the holidays, visit BC SPCA | The B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to find out how you can help your local furry friends over the holidays, or furrever.

 

 

 

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