Another “Holiday” With Inherent Dangers For Your Pet

Hello again. Did you have a wonderful St. Valentine’s Day? Easter? What kind of lovely gifts were given to you? The traditional flowers and chocolates? A teddy bear with a heart? A lovely dinner out, with some dancing or just a romantic time? Hidden colored eggs and colored aluminum foil wrapped milk chocolate?

Well, whatever it was, I hope it reached your expectations. Now we have the next holiday to contend with and to be honest, I probably should have printed these warning months ago, but holidays have a way of continually coming up, so do not despair.

Let’s talk flowers. They are beautiful. They smell good. They come from the heart. But many of them may be toxic to your pet. Did you get some of those beautiful white lilies? Or maybe a Dieffenbachia (aka “Dumb Cane” and other named plants)? You can bring flowers into the house to make your personal space beautiful, but make sure that you don’t make it ugly for your pet. Check with your local grower or florist before bring something in that could be dangerous.

Now on to the more “Meaty” items: BB the Q! That’s right, good ‘ole sauce slathered ribs, burgers, and hot dogs. We are talking summer scrumptiousness with all the nitrites, fats and charcoal induced carcinogens that we can consume (not to mention the salmonella laced room temperature potato salad). Yes, cookout season is upon us, and our dogs tend to be sitting at our feet or under the picnic table waiting for that plate to be put down, the garbage can to over flow, or heck, just jump right into the pile of ribs and chow down before someone yells at them to stop. Cats on the other hand, will wait until everything is cleaned up and in the garbage cans to wreck their havoc there.

Most often the result of this indulgence will be a bad case of the “runs” for your pet.  But if a rib bone is chewed, or the fat and gristle is eaten, you could be looking at a bad case of hemorrhagic enteritis or pancreatitis. Also the bones could be fragmented and cause obstruction, or worse yet perforate the gastrointestinal tract.

Avoid all this by keeping the products out of reach of your pet. Don’t allow the kids to give pieces to the pet. Don’t leave plates available to be raided. And in some cases, keep your pet away from the party all together.  Picnicking is an American pastime, and prevention is worth a pound of worry and other ‘presents’ that we would rather not see. Above all have fun, and throw another dog on the grill for me.