Holidays bring a great surge of excitement for both us and our pets. The high spirits always have everyone dancing around with hope and vigor.
However, amidst this overwhelming excitement and joy, holidays also comprise a few hidden problems and threats, especially for our fur buddies. And this precise yet all-embracing post covers the same subject.
It explores a variety of potential hazards that your pet may come into contact with during the holidays. Further onwards, you will also find a few handy tips to keep your beloved pet safe, sound, and protected from the dangerous elements. So, let’s get started!
Holidays & Pets
As we engage in holiday preparations, our furry pals have to compromise a bit on their fair share of our attention. They can’t help but only watch us while we focus on arranging the necessary goods, cleaning the house, buying and wrapping gifts, decorating the house, etc. Undeniably, at a point or two, things become too boring for them, and they tend to surrender to their playful and curious nature.
In no time, one will find cats and dogs exploring the newer stuff around the house. The fact that we are not watching over them as strictly as we usually do seems to be felt by them too. And so, cats and dogs often take advantage of the scenario and push their exploration to limits. They expose themselves to dangers both consciously and sub-consciously. The next section covers a few examples of such dangers and threats.
Potential Hazards
Before we dive into an in-depth list of potential hazards for your pets on holidays, let us first get this clear: most of the hazards are obvious and right there in front of you. It’s just that you fail to notice their presence until your cat or your dog rings the danger alarm.
For that very reason, you should know that although we’re listing a few common hazards, you should keep a vigilant eye on your surroundings and observe your environment keenly. Also, do not ignore anything that seems to pose a threat of even the slightest sort. Why exactly – allow us to explain.
Ornaments & Ribbons
Ornaments that you use to decorate your Christmas tree or your lounge can catch your cat’s or dog’s attention. Their sparkly exterior attracts your furry pals, as they confuse it with tempting prey. Similarly, the ribbons and tinsels that you use to wrap gifts and decorate ceiling fans can also appeal to your cats and dogs significantly. And as they attack and play with it, some of the cats and dogs may swallow the small-sized decoration or narrow ribbons.
At the time of ingestion, your pet may choke, or it may not exhibit any visible signs of ingesting a foreign body. However, in a few hours or days, you may find your cat or dog vomiting, developing diarrhea, or having a decreased activity. Thus, making a visit to the vet unavoidable.
Festive Plants
At times, the plants that we use for decoration purposes on holidays can cause our pets to become severely ill. These plants include lilies, belladonna lily, Poinsettia plants, etc.
According to ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), it’s the chemicals like lectins and Pharatoxins in plants like mistletoe that prove to be highly toxic for animals. They can slow down the heart rate and low blood pressure, which in turn can cause difficulty in breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, etc. For weaker and younger cats and dogs, these issues can prove to be fatal.
Along the same lines, the tree stand water also contains chemicals that can cause diarrhea and vomiting. So, you must keep these out of your pet’s reach.
Pet Treats
Rewarding pets with loads of pet treats are a common way of making them a part of our holiday festivities. However, such a practice can negatively impact their health, especially when we give pet treats in larger quantities. That’s because cats & dogs try to gobble up their treats in a hurry. And in doing so, they do not chew their food and pet treats like they ought to. Hence, these treats can get stuck in the trachea and cause choking. Or perhaps, they can get stuck somewhere in the gastrointestinal tract, particularly the intestines causing a hole or blockage to develop. For that very reason, you need to be careful with the number of pet treats. Don’t let your excitement for holidays cost your pet its health!
How to Keep Your Pet Safe?
Technically, there’s no one-stop solution for protecting your four-legged family member from all of these dangers. But you can work on multiple things and in multiple ways to become the shield between your pet and unfortunate occurrences that may cause loss of life.
Firstly, go for the obvious approach and remove these dangers from your pet’s reach. However, you may not be able to remove things always. For example, you most definitely cannot place the Christmas tree outside the premises of your home. So, in this case, make sure there’s a safe distance between your pet and the tree.
You can ensure that by engaging your pet in different activities. You can arrange a catnip for your cat, so it remains engaged playing with its new and tempting toy. Or perhaps, you can arrange interactive balls or teething rings for your dog.
Other than that, train your cat or dog to obey your command. If you do not wish for your pet to go near a certain object or stay in a certain area, tell it to stay out of it in whatever way that it understands your say. And once they do obey your command, reward them with pet treats, such as dog biscuits, pet treats, etc. Such an approach will keep things substantially under control.
Shawn Mack is a content writer who offers ghostwriting, copy-writing, and blogging services.His educational background in business and technical field has given him a broad base from which to approach many topics. He is also fond of writing interesting articles on technology & digital marketing related topics.