Holidays with the Pets

During fall break for Thanksgiving I return home to Austin, Texas to celebrate the holidays with my family which means I take a break from volunteering. However, the holidays are never a time for me to take a break from animal care especially since the winter and holiday season is the worst time of the year for animal deaths and accidental poisonings. Pets suffer from frostbite from the cold weather to toxic holiday products and food found in abundance around the house. Mistletoe, chocolate, Christmas trees preservatives, fake snow, modeling clay, alcoholic beverages, and nuts list just a few items that can be highly toxic and deadly in small quantities according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. The best way to protect from these accidents is to ensure these products are out of reach of prying paws or when used protected from pets. I know this last rule by experience as last year I went through an episode where my male Yorkshire Terrier named Tramp got into a large thing of chocolate covered fruit and nuts left sealed on the coffee table in the living room. After gorging himself sometime in the night, Tramp then passed out having diarrhea, the shakes, and vomiting over the course of 12 hours. I had the veterinary on call, forced him to drink water all day, and watched him carefully for seizure symptoms as chocolate is a neurotoxin, meaning targets the nervous system. Tramp got through the chocolate fruit disaster without having to go to the veterinarian as his system got rid of the toxin naturally by making him vomit and have diarrhea. Other pets are not so lucky. If you feel that your pet has eaten something toxic first call poison control to figure out the toxicity and symptoms to watch for, second call you veterinarian if these symptoms appear, and three watch your pet carefully for any change in behavior. The holiday season is a great time of the year, but also should be a cautious one when pets are concerned.