While tonight is a great time for fun frights, it is also important to keep dogs and cats safe.
Halloween is a very fun time of year, filled with the best of our scary sides, but at the same time, many pet insurance companies have reported that it is among the most dangerous days for animals such as dogs and cats.
There are many different hazards to the health of animals on Halloween, so take care to be pet friendly.
According to the National Retail Foundation, there was $330 million spent by 22 million people on animal costumes, alone. This is because it is a ton of fun to bring out the true devil, princess, or even pirate in your dog or cat, through the form of a costume fitted for a four legged critter. However, while costumes may be the fun side of this holiday, there is a darker and much spookier side that can be scary in a way that nobody will enjoy. Fortunately, those problems – and the pet insurance claims that they can require – are not difficult to avoid when the right precautions are taken.
Use the following pet insurance provider recommendations to keep the scary part of Halloween on the fun side.
• Keep treats out of reach of animals. Last year, there was a spike by a massive 140 percent in the number of chocolate related poisonings during the week of Halloween. This, according to the PetPlan insurance company’s Jules Benson, a veterinarian. Chocolate can make a dog or cat extremely ill or can even be fatal if consumed in large enough quantities. Keep it well out of the reach of even the most industrious pet. The average insurance claim for treatment of chocolate poisoning was $627, though some claims were as high as almost $3,000.
• Be careful with decorations and wrappers – Have a look at all of the things within reach of your pet, regardless of whether they are hanging or sitting on a ledge, or whether or not they are edible. Pets will often discover their environments by picking things up in their mouths, which can easily lead to accidental ingestion. Candy wrappers are especially enticing because they retain the smell of food. Those can become lodged in the pet’s digestive tract, causing a puncture or obstruction, which may require surgery.
• Be very careful of ingredients – xylitol is a sweetener that is completely safe for humans. It is often found in toothpaste, vitamins, gum, baked goods, and some candies. The American Veterinary Medical Association says that xylitol can be lethal to dogs and toxic signs can appear within 30 minutes from ingestion. To make sure that you never accidentally poison your dog or cat – creating one more unhappy pet insurance statistic – give it only treats that are meant for that animal.