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Keep Your Pets Safe from Holiday Hazards

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

While you gather with family and friends for the holidays, don’t forget your pets. Here are some tips from FDA Consumer Update, Keep Your Dogs and Cats Safe from Holiday Hazards, to give a stocking full of safe treats to your favorite pet.

  • Spread out the pet treats so they don’t gobble them up all at once.
  • Keep an eye on pets playing with tinsel, ribbons and bows. If eaten, they can cause serious stomach and intestinal damage.
  • If making homemade play dough or salt-dough ornaments, these are not treats for your pets. High amounts of salt can be deadly.
  • Holiday plants like poinsettias, mistletoe, or holly are not tasty treats for pets. Keep them away from their reach.
  • Table scraps can upset your pets stomach. Avoid giving them fat trimmings, turkey, chicken or meat bones, or skin from roasted turkey or chicken. These can cause illness and bones can get stuck in your pets esopagus, stomach, or trachea. Keep trash cans hidden so they don’t try to grab a snack.
  • Some human foods are not pet friendly. For example, some holiday treats contain xylitol. If your pet consumes this ingredient, it can cause lowering of blood sugar, decreased activity, weakness and even seizures. Chocolate can cause liver failure, bleeding disorders, and death. Keep pets away from alcohol.
  • Snack bags may look like toys to pets. But if they get their noses inside the bags, they can get stuck and could lead to suffocation.

Is Your Pet Obese?

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Pets, like humans, can become obese and is a serious problem for their health. It is estimated that 58% of cats and 54% of dogs in the U.S. are overweight.

Pet diseases from obesity are similar to human diseases. They can get diabetes, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, heart and respiratory disease, and kidney disease.

If a pet is 20% over ideal body weight, they are considered obese. This ideal weight varies by animal, age, body type and metabolism. Talk to your veterinarian about how much your pet should be eating.

Here are some signs of obesity to look for:

  • Look at your pet from the top. If the back is broad and flat like a footstool, it is overweight.
  • Can you feel your pet’s ribs?
  • Is your pet’s stomach sagging or tucked in?

Learn more at www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm543882.htm

 

 

Xylitol and Your Dog

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Dogs tend to chew on or eat anything in sight. So be careful about foods containing xylitol that could be within Fido’s reach. Why is xylitol dangerous to dogs, but not people?

Xylitol and Dogs
Keep your dogs safe!

In both people and dogs, the level of blood sugar is controlled by the release of insulin from the pancreas. In people, xylitol does not stimulate the release of insulin from the pancreas. When dogs eat something containing xylitol, the xylitol is more quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, and may result in a potent release of insulin from the pancreas.

This rapid release of insulin may result in a rapid and profound decrease in the level of blood sugar (hypoglycemia), an effect that can occur within 10 to 60 minutes of eating the xylitol. Untreated, this hypoglycemia can quickly be life-threatening.

Learn more at www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm499988.htm

 

Reference to any specific commercial products, process, service, manufacturer, or company does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation. Paid for by Kansas State University