Halloween Dangers for Pets

Halloween Dangers for Pets – Tips on How to Keep Your Pet Safe

Halloween can be a frightening and dangerous time for your pet.  It is the second most common holiday for pets to go missing, just behind July 4th.  Make sure your pets have updated ID tags, and a microchip, which will help your chances of reuniting should your pet go missing. Here are some tips for keeping your cat and dog safe from the Halloween dangers for pets.

Consider keeping your pets confined to a quiet room on Halloween night as this will help prevent them from bolting out the door.  

Keep your pets inside on Halloween night, especially black cats. Superstitions make black cats targets for abuse.  Most shelters will not adopt black cats during the month of October for this reason.

Keep pets away from glow sticks and jewelry.  Cats especially like to chew on glow sticks, and while usually not life threatening, they can cause mouth pain, irritation, hyper salivation and foaming.  According to Pet Poison Control, if your cat does chew on glow sticks, oral irrigation followed by a small amount of palatable liquid such as tuna water is all that is required.

Keep pets away from lit Jack-O-Lanterns that could be knocked over, possibly burning the pet or starting a fire.

Halloween Dangers for Pets – Common Halloween Foods That Are Dangerous

Candy and sweets, especially those containing xylitol can be highly toxic to dogs. Xylitol can be found in sugar-free candies, gum and even toothpaste.  Xylitol causes a massive insulin release.  Ingestion of xylitol can cause a rapid onset of hypoglycemia. Symptoms can include depression, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness and potentially death.

Chocolate can be very toxic, especially to dogs.  The darker and more bitter the chocolate, the more poisonous it is.  Just an ounce of Bakers Chocolate can make a 50 pound dog very ill. Clinical signs can include vomiting and diarrhea, restlessness, and muscle tremors or seizures in severe cases.  Death can occur with large ingestions of chocolate. 

Raisins are also dangerous to dogs. It is unknown why some dogs that ingest raisins will develop acute kidney disease and some will not. 

Ingesting candy wrappers, especially those with foil, can cause life-threatening obstruction which may require surgery.

If your pet becomes sick or if you think it may have ingested something harmful, contact us immediately at (513) 232-4550. Delays in seeking veterinary help may seriously complicate the problem.  

If we are not available, you can contact Pet Poison Control 24/7 at (855)764-7661.  There is a $49.00 consultation fee per incident.

MedVet of Cincinnati is also open 24/7. Their phone number is 561-0069