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Halloween Safety Tips For Pets
Halloween can be a festive and fun
time of year for children and families, but for family pets, it can be a stressful and even dangerous time of year. The Atlanta Humane Society offers pet owners some commonsense tips to help owners keep their pets safe during this time of year.
- Don't leave your pet out in the yard on Halloween. There are plenty of stories of vicious pranksters who have teased, injured, stolen and even killed pets on this night.
- Keep your outdoor cats inside several days before and several days after Halloween. Black cats in particular may be at risk from children’s pranks or other cruelty-related incidents. Many shelters, including the Atlanta Humane Society, do not adopt black cats on Halloween as a safety precaution.
- Trick-or-treat candies are not for pets.
Chocolate in all forms—especially dark or baking chocolate—can be very dangerous for dogs and cats. Symptoms of significant chocolate ingestion may include vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, increased thirst, urination and heart rate—and even seizures.
Candies containing the artificial sweetener xylitol can be poisonous to dogs. Even small amounts of xylitol sweetener can cause a sudden drop in blood sugar, which leads to depression, lack of coordination and seizures. In cases of significantly low blood sugar, liver failure has been known to occur.
Ingesting tin foil and cellophane candy wrappers can pose a choking hazard or cause intestinal blockage. - Be careful of pets around a lit pumpkin. Pets may knock it over and cause a fire. Curios kittens especially run the risk of getting burned.
- Don't dress your pet in a costume unless you know he/she loves it. If you do dress up your pet, make sure the costume isn’t annoying or unsafe. It should not constrict movement, hearing or ability to breathe or bark.
- Be careful not to obstruct your pet’s vision. Even the sweetest animal can get snappy when he/she can't see.
- All but the most social dogs and cats should be kept in a separate
room during trick-or-treat visiting hours. Too many strangers in strange garb can be scary
for an animal.
Also, animals may find the front door opening to be too hard to resist, and they could escape! - Make sure your cat or dog is wearing proper identification. If for any reason they escape and become lost, you increase the chances that they will be returned to you.