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Every year around the holiday season veterinary offices get busy with emergency phone calls from canine and feline guardians. By far the most common phone calls we receive are relating to a pet dog or cat having eaten too much of the holiday turkey or other holiday foods and desserts. It’s crucial that pet owners know that chocolate and other sweet ingredients can be very toxic to dogs and cats.
While I’ve always encouraged my clients to feed their family pets a healthy, balanced homemade diet using recipes from reputable sources, the feeding of fatty table scraps, especially in animals with sensitive digestive tracts, or pre-existing histories of digestive tract upset, can cause disorders including acute gastroenteritis and even pancreatitis. This can manifest in the scientific signs of vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration or loss of appetite.
If an animal is already used to a fixed formula commercial pet food diet every day, and their diet unexpectedly changes during the holiday season without a gradual transition, this common scenario can cause digestion problems in pets. If this must occur, fasting a pet for 24 to 48 hours using only liquids and/or broth, as well as using natural at home remedies such as slippery elm can typically help. Pepcid AC at dose of one half mg per pound, once to twice daily can also help with sour stomachs and some vomiting.
After 24 to 48 hours, introducing bland hamburger and/or rice diets and continuing slippery elm or Pepcid AC is typically enough to resolve basic upset digestive tracts. NaturVet Enzymes and Probiotics is terrific to have around and to add to the bland diets during recovery and even long term to strengthen the gut immune system. However, if boosted lethargy or loss of bodily fluids persists or worsens (through increased vomiting and diarrhea) an immediate veterinary assessment must be done to avoid dehydration, especially in the very young and senior pets.
Another common dietary situation seen this time of year is in family pets that literally plunder the trash for leftover holiday meals and deserts, as well as family pets that go after indigestible items including gift wrapping paper, ribbons, tinsel, Poinsettia plants, etc. even some of the common gifts and items left under the holiday tree, such as holiday gifts for both people and pets, need to be used under human supervision.
We also need to not forget to keep our family pets warm this time of year, especially as wintertime bears down on us. Outside family pets including cats must be allowed access to appropriate warm shelter in case the wintertime weather turns brutally cold. One of the a lot more common freak accidents this time of year involve cats seeking warmth under the hood of the car, which can lead to disastrous consequences if the cat falls asleep in this area. especially smaller toy breed dogs must be adequately covered with small jackets to help keep them warm in the colder weather, as they tend to lose body heat rapidly.
Also, it is not uncommon to see an occasional case of frostbite in our pets. As people prepare their automobiles for the colder wintertime months, they need to also be careful not to leave around open cans of antifreeze. Antifreeze is typically very tasty to curious dogs and cats, and can cause acute digestive upset and life threatening kidney failure. As the weather gets colder, outside small mammals such as mice and rats may take shelter in our homes, and while our cats and dogs can help keep these populations down, we need to be extra careful not to leave out rodenticide traps that can not only can be toxic to dogs and cats, but in family pets that happen to ingest a rodent that has consumed some of the bait from these poisons. Thus, while the holiday season is a very special time of year for the whole family, it is crucial to be vigilant in monitoring our animals for these potential risks during the holiday and wintertime seasons.
Pet Safety
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