The most wonderful time of the year can turn deadly for pets, unless owners know which foods and other holiday items to keep out of Fluffy and Fido’s reach.
“Foods rich in fat or sugar can cause pancreatitis, which can be life threatening,” Tracy Keith, executive director of the Cochrane and Area Humane Society (CAHS), said in an email to the Airdrie City View. “Foods containing grapes, raisins and currants – such as fruitcakes – can result in kidney failure in dogs.”
Chocolate can also be toxic to dogs and cats, she added.
“Chocolate poisoning occurs most frequently in dogs, but other species are also susceptible,” she said. “Theobromine is the toxic compound found in chocolate. Signs, which may appear within one to four hours of eating chocolate, include vomiting, increased thirst, diarrhea and even muscle spasms, seizures and coma.”
The toxicity depends on the amount and type of chocolate ingested, according to veterinarian Dr. Laura McKinney from the Airdrie Animal Health Centre.
“Dark chocolate is worse than milk chocolate. There’s not actually a ton of real chocolate in milk chocolate – it’s more just dairy and sugar,” she said. “The worst would be baker’s chocolate. A higher concentration of cocoa is what’s dangerous to pets.”
The amount of theobromine in white chocolate or chocolate-flavored dog treats, she said, is usually negligible.
If you suspect your pet may have ingested chocolate, call your vet or an emergency vet immediately, Keith said. Having information about the type and quantity of chocolate ready when you call is a good idea, she added, since quick treatment will often lead to a better outcome.
“If you tell us how much they ate, we have calculators [that figure out the toxicity]based on the weight of the dog and what kind of chocolate the dog ate,” McKinney said. “If they received enough cocoa powder for it to be toxic, it causes neurologic effects – it would be the equivalent to having 20 cups of coffee at once.”
Some of the symptoms include twitching, tremors and seizures, she said. At the clinic, the vet will induce vomiting to get as much of the chocolate out of the animal’s system as possible, and then use a binding agent – such as activated charcoal – to remove anything that’s left in the stomach, she added.
Other foods that can be toxic, Keith said, are treats that contain the sweetener xylitol – often found in sugarless gums and candies. Xylitol can cause a life-threatening drop in blood sugar and liver failure in dogs.
Macadamia nuts can cause weakness and an inability of the pet to walk, while grapes, raisins and currants can cause kidney failure in dogs.
“One of the biggest hazards can actually be the presents under the tree, like bits of ribbon,” McKinney said. “Pets can get a foreign body – especially a string-like one – from eating ribbon. Tinsel is also really bad. Cats love tinsel – it blocks them up and then they’re vomiting up all over the house.”
Keeping pets away from artificial Christmas trees can be accomplished by surrounding the tree with a barrier, such as a dog fence or exercise pen. McKinney said her clinic sometimes sees electrical burns on pets that might chew on cords running from the tree or other decorations to an outlet.
For those who put up a real tree, McKinney recommends checking any additives you might be tempted to add to the water to ensure they are pet-safe.
“Some people – in order to make their tree last longer – will put a bleach solution in the tree water to keep it fresher, longer,” she said. “That’s, obviously, not good for pets to drink.”
Holiday plants, including poinsettias, Christmas lilies, holly or mistletoe, can be poisonous and should be kept out of reach of inquisitive pets. Keeping pets supervised, McKinney said, and out of the garbage is also important.
“They might get a hold of an entire turkey leg or carcass or ham or something like that,” she said. “A few days after Christmas, they begin vomiting and they’ve upset themselves eating rich food.”
Although most local vets will be closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day, McKinney said, emergency clinics in Calgary, including Western Veterinary Specialist and Emergency Centre on Tenth Avenue S.W., will remain open.
