How to Keep Your Pet Safe This Halloween
For many people, Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday season. What is an exciting time for you and your family can be an absolute nightmare for your pets. While dressing them up and including them in your spooky holiday plans may seem like fun, save the costumes for a photo-op. These are our top 5 tips to keeping your pet safe during
Halloween.
Candy is For People NOT Pets
Any form of chocolate or candy is extremely harmful to your pet. Halloween candies containing artificial sweeteners can cause vomiting, diarrhea, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, seizure, and even death. Even the smallest amount of chocolate or artificial sweetener can cause a sudden drop in their blood sugar, along with loss of coordination.
To keep your pet safe, avoid actively giving your pet any candy. Also, be mindful of where you store your candy. Pets have a sneaky habit of getting into places they shouldn’t. Store candy up, off the ground and off counter-tops and tables where they could reach.
Keep Pets Inside
This includes dogs AND cats. Halloween can bring out the tricksters in the neighborhood. And while some tricks may be seemingly harmless, your pets may be frightened or accidentally harmed. Shelters often avoid adopting out black cats during the month of October due to the high-risk rate of them being harmed during a “prank.”
Additionally, with increased foot and car traffic, you don’t want to run the risk of your pet being stepped on, run over or accidentally harmed during trick-or-treating hours. Keep them inside and give them a nice treat to keep them occupied while all the fun is happening.
Keep Pets Away from the Door
Aside from the risk of pets escaping every time you open the door, keeping pets away from the door prevents the risk of injury. Even if your dog is not typically a biter, scratching or jumping can still cause harm to small children and the elderly. With strangers coming to your front door, your pet may begin to feel territorial and lash out if they feel that you or their territory is being threatened. Play it safe and keep them away from the front door.
Don’t Forget Your ID
For many pet parents, a collar while inside isn’t always the norm. With so many pets being chipped these days, even wearing an identification collar while outside doesn’t always happen either. Yet, with Halloween, it’s extremely important you put on clear identification for your pet. In the event that your pet becomes frightened and runs off, they’ll be easily identified and returned quickly.
Keep the Pumpkins Away From Pets
Aside from the danger of an open lit candle inside a pumpkin, pumpkin displays, when consumed, can cause gastrointestinal issues. If your pet isn’t used to eating pumpkin, it may cause them discomfort, gas, or even diarrhea. But, even if your pet is used to eating pumpkin, often pumpkin displays have begun to grow mold. And, as you know, mold isn’t good to digest! Consuming mold can cause neurological damage to your pet.
