The doorbell rings, and oh BOY! Behold groups of small humans shouting for TREATS! And they are clothed in what appear to be head-to-toe squeaky toys…
When it comes to costume time, there are a lot of fun ways to dress our pets for the season. If you want to dress up your furry friend but your beloved beastie refuses to wear a full on head to toe costume, fun party collars or festive themed bandannas are usually well accepted by everybody. As always, just take any costumes off before leaving them alone.
Of course, if your pets are not that excited about Halloween visitors, or if there is a chance they might take the opportunity to go trick-or-treating on their own when the door opens, we advise keeping them safe and letting them live it up in peace away from the front door, but for those who do, we wish you a spooktacular and safe evening!
Other Halloween safety tips:
Remember to be careful with candy, and the small wrappers it comes in, too! Pets tend to love crinkly wrappers, and just one wrapper can cause choking or an obstruction.
If at all possible, do try to avoid leaving pets home alone on Halloween. The extra commotion in the neighborhood can be frightening to an otherwise calm pet.
Please try to keep decorations safe for pets. Use caution especially with candles, fake spider webs, and spooky dangling items.
Always make sure your pet is wearing identification in case he or she does venture out for unsupervised trick-or-treating.
A few treats are downright scary for pets. Please beware:
Sugarless Gum and Sugarless Candies are great for those os us watching our sugar, but can be DEADLY to pets. The sweetener Xylitol triggers an insulin release in dogs and can lead to severe hypoglycemia. Liver failure is also a huge concern. The amount is not the same for every dog, but we do know that as few as 2 or 3 sticks of sugar free gum can cause serious trouble, and baked goods even more so. Click here to read a press release from AVMA about xylitol toxicity in dogs.
Keep chocolate safely away from pets. Mainly because it contains theobromine and caffeine. The risks are serious: Central Nervous System and cardiovascular stimulation enough to cause seizures and vomiting. This is serious enough to become fatal in some cases. The darker the chocolate, the higher theobromine concentration.
Raisins are dried grapes. It has become widely known that the skin and pulp of grapes can be extremely toxic to dogs and perhaps cats as well. While the extract from grape seeds is incredibly beneficial, the fruit must be avoided. The cause of this toxicity has not been established but we know the skin and pulp can cause acute kidney failure.The amount of skin and pulp and varies from a small amount to none at all, but since there is no consistent amount nor is there any rhyme or reason to exactly which dogs will have a serious reaction, just be safe and keep all grapes and raisins (or anything in the current family) away from Fido (especially chocolate covered!)
Have a happy Halloween!