For pets, the house isn’t a warm home full of festive colors,
smells and and sounds of the
holidays. It’s a place packed with peril.
“Dogs and cats can encounter more dangerous things at Christmas
than are normally around
them,” said Jim Strickland, a veterinarian with the University
of Georgia Extension Service.
Some dangers are easy to recognize: the electrical cords that
light up the Christmas tree and other
decorations, for instance.
“Dogs like to chew electrical cords,” Strickland said, “and they
may get the shock of their lives
for Christmas.”
Keep the cords out of the way of the pets, he said.
Other dangers may not seem at all dangerous to the pets’ owners -
– like leftover turkey.
“Too many leftovers and long, brittle bones can choke or
penetrate the digestive tract of dogs or
cats,” Strickland said. “Table scraps can cause chronic
digestive upset in dogs, too.”
Holiday candies present special dangers, too.
“Among candies, chocolate is the biggest danger for pets,”
Strickland said.
The toxic part of chocolate is called theobromine and is related
to caffeine. For a dog or cat it can
be like a dose of cocaine, killing by overstimulating the
heart.
“It’s hard for a big dog to get enough chocolate candy to kill
it,” he said, pointing out that it takes
1 1/3 pounds of mild chocolate to kill a 25-pound dog. Smaller
animals, though, can eat lethal
doses of chocolate easily enough.
Unsweetened baking chocolate is another story altogether. “That
has 10 times as much
theobromine as mild chocolate candy,” Strickland said. “It takes
only 2 1/4 ounces of it to kill a
25-pound dog.”
Hard candies can be deadly, too, because dogs and cats can
easily choke on them. And hard
candies, as well as small toys and parts of toys and games,
Christmas ornaments, etc., are all
around pets during the holidays.
Other dangers that aren’t so obvious are the plants that provide
traditional holiday color.
“Things like mistletoe, poinsettias and Jerusalem cherry may be
toxic to dogs and cats,”
Strickland said.
The Extension veterinarian doesn’t suggest doing without
Christmas trees, turkey, mistletoe or
candies for Christmas this year. He just wants people to
remember their pets.
“Just be aware of the potential dangers for pets at Christmas,”
he said. “Keeping the pets happy
and healthy can add to the pleasure of the holiday season.”
