Thanksgiving Day Safety for Pets

Dumpster diving and counter surfing is dangerous sport for dogs – turkey and chicken bones can be a choking hazard. These bones can easily splinter causing a potentially life-threatening emergency.

Even this year when so many people may not be visiting your home, pets can still get into the trash or succeed in begging from the table. Fat or skin from the turkey or chicken – even a surprisingly small amount of it in some dogs – can cause pancreatitis, which may necessitate a visit to the animal ER. And full recovery from inflammation of the pancreas can take many days or even weeks. And on rare but all too real occasions pancreatitis can be deadly.

In reality, for most pets, a single SMALL slice of turkey (without the skin), is not likely to cause harm. The problem is we sometimes forget that several slices of turkey to a 10 lb cat or 30 lb dog is pretty the equivalent to a person eating half a bird.

Beyond the main course, an artificial sweeter called Xylitol used in many sugar-free baking mixes is really bad news for dogs Even small amounts of xylitol can cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), seizures, liver failure or even death in dogs. Of course, chocolate (particularly dark chocolate) is toxic as well.

If you’re a lousy cook – consider moving your pet bird a away from the kitchen. Birds can suffer what is commonly called Teflon toxicity. Non-stick heating surfaces heated at too high a temperature (often above 530ºF) results in caustic fumes – which may not smell to our noses, but can cause serious respiratory distress in pet birds, which can result in death.

Invasion of the Relatives

If even this year, you are having family over – and activities are outside, insure the dog is on leash if you don’t have a fenced-in yard. And with the door constantly opening and closing, it might be best to put the cat away in a room behind a closed door.

Of course, begging from the table is discouraged – mostly because usually the pets win. The best idea is prevention. Merrick Pet Foods has creatively come up with the perfect alternative, a turkey dinner for dogs. It’s canned dog food that even smells a bit like the real deal, one is called Thanksgiving Day Dinner and another is called Turkduken. Unless your.dog is accustomed to the diet, an entire meal of it is not suggested, instead stuff spoonfuls of this moist diet into a sterilized bone, or a Kong toy, for example. Happily working on getting his or her meal, your dog may be contentedly distracted to be another room with one turkey dinner while you eat yours in another room.