Five Holiday Hazards for Your Pets

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You hear it this time every year but if you have a pet, you need to be careful about how you decorate your place during the holidays. Prevention magazine came up with a list of five holiday hazards pet owners need to be aware of.

#1.)  Holiday Foods.  You probably know that if your dog eats enough chocolate, it can be deadly.  But you have to be careful about OTHER foods too.For example, things like grapes, raisins, and currants . . . which are common ingredients in fruitcake . . . can lead to kidney failure.

And even feeding your dog too many table scraps can lead to pancreatitis which means their pancreas can become infected. 

#2.)  Potpourri.  Any kind of potpourri is bad for pets, but the most dangerous is the liquid kind you heat up in a pot.For a cat, even a few licks can cause severe chemical burns.  And it can also cause fever, difficulty breathing, and tremors.  So if you have a cat, you should use candles instead.

Dogs aren’t as sensitive to potpourri as cats are, but it’s still toxic.

#3.)  Ornaments.  Glass ornaments can break and cut your pet’s paws, so you’re not supposed to hang them too low on the tree.  But some ornaments are more dangerous than others.

“Bubble lights” were a popular decoration for Christmas trees in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, and a lot of people still have them.  They look like little candles that glow, and they have big bases at the bottom where each one screws into the strand.Bubble lights are particularly dangerous for pets because they contain a chemical called methylene chloride, which can irritate their eyes, skin, lungs, and intestines.

#4.)  Tinsel.  If a cat eats tinsel, it can get wrapped around its tongue or caught in its stomach while the rest of it starts passing through the intestines.  If that happens, the only choice is surgery.

#5.)  Flowers and Plants.  Poinsettias get a bad rap, but they’re only mildly toxic for dogs and cats.  What you really have to worry about are lilies, which are common in holiday arrangements.

Strong-smelling ones like tiger lilies, Asiatic lilies, and Stargazers are all highly toxic to dogs and cats.  And chewing on one leaf can result in acute kidney failure.

A few flowers that aren’t toxic are roses, marigolds, orchids, and daisies.