Christmas is the season for giving, celebrating and eating! But for our pets this can be particularly dangerous. Decorations, presents and common Christmas foods such as chocolate should be avoided to ensure our pets are kept healthy over the festive season. Here’s some of the foods that pets are not allowed to eat:
Chocolate:
Who doesn’t love Chocolate?! Even dogs like the taste of chocolate. But even 50g of dark chocolate is enough to poison a 10kg dog. It’s the caffeine and the theobromine in chocolate can cause affect dogs causing seizures and death.
Onions/Garlics/Chives/Shallots:
They’re a great accompaniment to hot meals and even salads, but cooked or raw, are toxic to red blood cells. Remember – even if you have onion on a left over pizza can be very dangerous, causing life-threatening anemia in both cats and dogs.
Fatty meats/meats containing preservatives:
We all love a bit of Christmas ham! But feeding your pets the off cuts of ham and any other fatty meat can result in a painful and potentially life threatening inflammation of the pancreas known as pancreatitis. This results in abdominal pain, lethargy, reduced appetite and vomiting.
Macadamia nuts:
Either natural, or coated in chocolate, Macadamia nuts are divine. BUT they are poisonous to dogs so they must be kept far away from them! It can result in muscle tremors, weakness, limping and depression.
Grapes, Sultanas & Raisins:
Have been implicated as causing acute kidney failure in dogs due to an unknown toxin.
Bread dough:
Although not an overly common Christmas food, bread dough can be life-threatening. Did you know the heat of an animal’s body will cause the dough to rise in the stomach, expanding up to several times its original size! Surgery is often required to remove the dough so let’s make sure it’s cooked and far away from your pet!
Christmas foods such as turkey, baked potates, pumpkin puree, bananas, apples, cucmbers and sweet potatoes are all foods that your pets can enjoy during Christmas.
If you think your pet has eaten something it shouldn’t of during this festive season give us a call asap. If we are not open click here for a list of emergency hospitals open during Christmas.
