The holidays are a time of festivities, decorating, traditions, and spending time with those we love, including our pets. The holidays also present some hazards (and temptations) to our pets! Taking a few precautions will ensure that the whole family has a happy and safe holiday season.
Many of our favorite and most common holiday plants are unfortunately toxic to our dogs and cats. If you will have these plants in your home, make sure your pet can’t easily access them. An alternative is buying artificial plants that will last year after year!
- Poinsettia
- Holly
- Mistletoe
- Christmas Rose
Avoid decorating your home or tree with edible decorations, such as candy canes, popcorn, cranberries, etc.
My cats used to pull candy canes off of our Christmas tree. We ended up with gooey and spit-covered candy canes stuck to the rug with the plastic wrapping chewed apart! The plastic that they chew off of the candy can also be dangerous to your pet.
Edible decorations also give your pet more incentive to “investigate” the tree, which can lead to tree tipping.
Candles are often a part of holiday traditions and decoration. Candles should be out of your pet’s reach and all candles should be extinguished when you leave home, or if your pet is in a room unsupervised with candles.
There are also many affordable electric candle options, from tea-lights to votives. These are a good safety alternative overall.
If you have pets, it’s a good idea to avoid using tinsel. It’s hard to guess exactly what our pets are thinking when they eat tinsel, but they sure do like it for some reason! Tinsel can cause intestinal problems for your pet if it becomes stuck or tangled in your pet’s intestines.
Please check out my holiday lights post for safety tips and alternatives!
Jennifer Kean is a writer and pet-lover who owns two rescue kittens (lifetime cat owner too!) and has a 40 gallon fish tank!
