Holidays are a great time to celebrate and have fun with friends, families, and well-wishers. However, while you’re celebrating, it’s important to keep the animals around you safe. These holiday safety tips for pets are very important for every pet owner to understand and use during the holidays.
According to Vet Street research, there are specific times during the year when pets are most at risk of injury. This time is usually during the holidays because their daily routine changes.
If your pet gets injured, it will cause a sad experience for both of you. It will also end up disrupting your merrymaking if you have to start running around to get it treated.
All of that can be avoided by taking note of these holiday safety tips for dogs and cats;
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Ensure The Christmas Tree Is Firmly Secured
Christmas trees are highly essential for lots of activities during the Christmas holidays. However, pets can be very curious, especially dogs, and might pick an interest in the shiny Christmas tree.
Therefore, the Christmas tree you set up should be sturdy and securely mounted to avoid it falling. If a Christmas tree falls and your pet is nearby, it could end up in an injury.
Put Off Candles
Holiday candles are one of the highest risks to pets. If they get access and play with it, they could get burnt. What’s worse? They could knock the candle over and start a fire that can burn your house down.
You should never leave candles or any fire source unattended with pets around. Use stable candle holders and put them off if you’re leaving.
Use Safe Plants
This tip is truly an important holiday safety tip for dogs. If you plan to bring a couple of plants or flowers in your home for decoration, they must be safe pet-wise.
Some of the popular plants and natural Christmas trees we use during Christmas holidays like mistletoe, pine, and holly, can be harmful if eaten by pets.
They contain toxins and viscotoxins, which are poisonous. It would be best if you stayed away from those plants or made security arrangements to keep pets away from them altogether.
Watch The Lights: Holiday Safety Tips For Dogs And Cats
To keep our homes looking festive during Christmas, we decorate the tree and other areas with fancy lights. While having fun, you mustn’t forget that all of these lights are powered by electricity.
If your pet chews or plays with a cord or bulk, it’s at risk of getting electrocuted.
This suggestion is one of the important holiday safety tips for cats. Cats love shiny lights, and unfortunately, due to their nature, they are quite at risk when they get an electric shock.
Discard Gift Boxes And Ribbons
As you open your holiday gifts, do not leave the boxes and ribbons littered around the house.
Your pet could come across them and attempt to bite or play with it. Most especially cats who love to play with long stringy toys.
The materials used in making gift boxes and ribbons are not safe to consume.
Feed Your Pets Right
We’ve talked about how pets might want to feed on plants, gift boxes, ribbons, etc. Well, that will happen less if your pet is fed properly with healthy, balanced, and nutritious pet food.
Just because it’s the holiday season doesn’t mean you should give your pet poorly nutritious food or people food. Stick to their diet.
Also, take extra care with easter eggs and chocolate snacks around dogs as it can cause poising and death if accidentally consumed.
Pet-proof The House
If the holiday celebrations are going down in your home, one way of keeping your pets safe if by pet-proofing the place so they can’t get to what they shouldn’t touch.
Besides, as a pet owner, you shouldn’t wait for your holidays to pet-proof your house, if you love your stuff.
Lessen The Noise
Some pets have a noise phobia. They could get startled, afraid, noisy, and sometimes aggressive when they’re in a very noisy environment.
This condition could be triggered when the music is turned to its loudest, or people are screaming and shouting. Constantly barking dogs can end up irritating your neighbors seriously and cause problems between you.
To avoid this from happening, reduce the noise or put your pet in a quieter room during the noisy part of the festivities. Remember to come back and check in on your pet.
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Keep Meds Secure
According to Pets WebMD, medications and drugs prescribed for humans can have negative effects on animals.
These medications could be various types, such as pain relievers, anti-inflammatory, antidepressants, and blood pressure medications.
A point to note here is that even very little amounts of these medications can be enough to damage when ingested by your pets.
Hence, it would be best if you securely stored your meds away from pets’ reach. If you have visitors over, have them do the same.
Keep Your Eyes On Your Pets
Last but not the least, keeps your eyes on your pets as much as you can. Sometimes when there are so many people, you may forget there’s a pet in the house.
Leaving pets alone when they are not used to it can trigger episodes of separation anxiety and cause your pet to become stressed.
Make it a habit to take a break from the excitement and check on your pets to see how they’re doing. You could do this every 30 minutes or at an hourly interval. These frequent checkups are also necessary to ensure your pets behave well and don’t get up to some mischief.
Conclusion
When I’m on holiday with my pet, I love us both to have fun and stay safe. If you’re pet owner, I’m sure you’ll love that too.
It also doesn’t have to be difficult, and you don’t have to change much. I have pointed out 10 holiday safety tips for pets in this article that you should carry out to ensure a wonderful experience for you and your pets. Sharing is caring. Please share this if you found this useful.
