How to Keep Your Pet Safe on Halloween
How to Keep Your Pet Safe on Halloween
by Michael Johnston
October 24th, 2019
Halloween is a fun time for the entire family. While the humans may love to get in a good scare, we should remember that our four legged family members don’t enjoy being scared. There are simple steps we can take to make sure this Halloween is fun for the ENTIRE family as well as safe! Thanks to the ASPCA for the helpful tips.
Trick or Treat!
While we love our halloween candy, they are not a good treat option for our pets. Watch the candy bowl and don’t leave candy laying around. Several popular halloween treats are toxic to animals. Chocolate, especially dark and baking chocolate are dangerous for cats and dogs. Sugar-free candy contains sugar substitutes that can cause serious problems in pets.
If you suspect your pet has ingested something toxic, please call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 immediately.
Decorations and Wires
A carved jack-o-lantern may be the prized declaration for your home, but a lit candle can spell disaster. A curious pet, especially a kitten, will want to investigate the candle, possibly tipping the candle over and get burned or start a fire. All candles should be well out of reach of pets. Better yet, use a flameless candle. Extension cords and wires from decorations can also be dangerous to a curios pet who might want to bite the wire and get shocked. Keep wires tucked away or use a pet protector over the wire. I have even installed a GFI plug specifically for my decorations, including my Christmas tree lights for an added level of safety.
Keep Costumes Safe
We all love a good pet costume. But we need to be sure our pets are having fun too. If they appear stressed, don’t force it. You wouldn’t want someone to force you to wear a costume you didn’t want either. If you do dress up your pet for Halloween, make sure the costume does not limit his or her movement, sight or ability to breathe, bark or meow. Check the costume carefully for small, dangling or easily chewed-off pieces that could present a choking hazard. Ill-fitting outfits can get twisted on external objects or your pet, leading to injury.
Be sure to have your pet try on the costume before the big night. If he or she seems distressed or shows abnormal behavior, consider letting your pet wear his or her “birthday suit” or don a festive bandana instead.
Keep Calm
Halloween brings a flurry of activity with visitors arriving at the door, and too many strangers or loud noises can often be scary and stressful for pets. All but the most social dogs and cats should be kept in a separate room away from the front door during peak trick-or-treating hours. While opening the door for guests, be sure that your dog or cat doesn’t dart outside.
Stay Indoors
Always make sure your pet it wearing proper identification—if for any reason he or she does escape, a collar with ID tags and/or a microchip can be a lifesaver for a lost pet. All animals adopted from DREAM will be microchipped!
Glow Sticks
While glow sticks can help keep people safe on Halloween night, they can add some unwanted drama to the holiday if a pet chews one open. Thankfully, the liquid inside glow sticks is non-toxic, so it won’t actually make pets sick, but it does taste awful. Pets who get into a glow stick may drool, paw at their mouth, become agitated, and sometimes even vomit. If your pet does chew on a glow stick offer some fresh water or a small meal to help clear the material out of the mouth.
Easy on the Pumpkin
While small amounts of corn and pumpkin can be fed safely to many pets, ingesting uncooked, potentially moldy Halloween pumpkins or corn displays can cause big problems. Gastrointestinal upset is a possibility whenever pets eat something they aren’t used to, and intestinal blockage can occur if large pieces are swallowed. Some types of mold produce mycotoxins that can cause neurologic problems in dogs and cats. So, keep the pumpkins and corn stalks away from your pets.
Have a great day!
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