Thanksgiving is a fun holiday where we all get together to have food and festivities with those we care about. For our furry friends though it can be a tiring or even outright hard time for them with possibly dangerous temptations and even strange people they don’t know visiting. Your Friends at Happy Life are here to share some and info and tips to make sure your holidays are as stress free and successful for your and your’e furry family members.
Hosting A Party?
For those that are going to be hosting this holiday can be stressful for your pets due to having a bunch of people in the house. If you know your pet is anxious or easily upset by large amounts of people just be kind to them and give them their own safe place if you can, this can be a bedroom or other part of the house where they do not need to come into close contact with other people. Make sure to give them plenty of treats and toys to help keep them calm. If your pets do calm down after the initial excitement it would be best to slowly introduce them to your party in small numbers instead of just throwing them in head first. If your pet on the other hand is not the type to calm down, just make sure you take plenty of breaks from the festivities to go and check on them and make sure they are alright.
For the Pets that are sociable and friendly there are other things one should think about. Make sure you keep an eye on the door or doors that your guests are using. while you are vigilant about keeping doors closed your guests might not be and your pet might see this as an opportunity to take a stroll. Make sure your guests are aware of the animals and that they should be mindful of the doors. It is also important to make sure your animals have identification in the form of a tag and/or microchip in the event that they get out and go for a stroll. Make sure that these ways of identification are up to date so that if they do go missing it wont hopefully be for too long.
Food Safety is key
Food is a big part of Thanksgiving and while we love it and the animals do as well you do need to be cautious of some of the foods served at thanksgiving and their potential health risks to animals. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association there are several different potentially hazardous item for animals that are commonly served at Thanksgiving dinner. While they might be salivating over the turkey you must make sure not to give them raw turkey as it contains salmonella that could end up giving them food poisoning and while cooked turkey is fine, make sure the turkey does not contains bones to prevent choking. One dish not thought of that is very dangerous is uncooked dough. The uncooked dough yeast can cause dangerous bloating and G.I problems if to be ingested by an animal and can be potentially fatal. Besides these two just also be sure to be careful of the usual suspects which are all usually served at thanksgiving such as chocolate, alcohol and festive plants.
With this information in mind it is easy to host and have a great and safe holiday for all of your family members. If you do think you have an emergency due to your pet ingesting something dangerous please call the ASPCA poison hotline at 888-426-4435 Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving from your friends the Happy Life Crew.