With Thanksgiving just two days away, it’s crunch time for doing research on how to ensure you have the best Thanksgiving possible. Whether you’re hosting or travelling this week, your mind is probably solely on food. How much should you make? What should you make for everyone? What’s the best recipe? All these thoughts running through your mind may cause you to forget about how this holiday may effect your furry friend! It’s a big day for them too and can often be very scary and overwhelming for them. Not to mention all the great foods they will be smelling at once. Check out these 5 tips below from Dogster to ensure you and your dogs have a safe Thanksgiving!
5 Tips for Having a Safe Thanksgiving With Dogs
Jessica Pineda | Nov 12th 2018
From potentially toxic foods and food scraps to stressful environments and other pets, here’s how to ensure you have a safe Thanksgiving with dogs.
Ah, Thanksgiving. Food, family… and frayed nerves from cooking a massive meal or traveling to a relative’s house. With all the chaos of preparing for Thanksgiving, be it getting your house ready to host extended family or packing for a trip, we might not think about what stress a dog could be under when his home is filled with people, or what dangers might come from so much food lying around. So, how do you ensure you have a safe Thanksgiving with dogs in the picture? Here are a few common mishaps — and how to avoid each of them.
1. Don’t let your dog eat turkey (or any Thanksgiving foods, really)
It’s tempting to give your dog some Thanksgiving turkey and mashed potatoes, but this is a surefire way to create a Thanksgiving catastrophe. At the very least, it’ll lead to an upset tummy.
“It’s not uncommon during the Thanksgiving holiday that we see pet insurance claims for intoxication, pancreatitis and gastroenteritis,” says Dawn Pyne, marketing manager for Embrace Pet Insurance, which is based in Cleveland, Ohio. “Most people food is heavily seasoned, which can lead to the gastro irritations. And there is food that is downright poisonous to dogs, like xylitol, chocolate and grapes.”
The following is what Pyne sees most often in insurance claims post-Thanksgiving:
- Gastroenteritis from eating unfamiliar and seasoned people foods
- Acute pancreatitis from eating large amounts of fatty foods, like dark turkey meat, turkey skin, ham or cheeses
- Intoxication from xylitol from eating food with this sugar substitute (sugar-free); from chocolate, since dogs are not able to metabolize theobromine and caffeine; and from raisins, currant or grapes, which can be toxic to dogs.
Be safe, rather than sorry: Don’t feed your dog table scraps from the Thanksgiving feast. Keep an eye on your guests, too, who might like to sneak pieces of food to your dog when you’re not looking. For my German Shepherd Dog’s first Thanksgiving with the family, I had to yell at my brother-in-law and niece not to feed my dog ham. “It’s too salty!” was basically my catchphrase for the night.
So, how do you know if your dog might have eaten something he shouldn’t? Look for signs of vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy and dehydration, Pyne says. If your dog exhibits those symptoms, get your dog to a veterinarian ASAP.
2. Don’t feed your dog turkey bones either, or give him access to any Thanksgiving scraps
It’s equally tempting to toss your dog a few bones from the turkey. After all, what is more iconic than a dog with a bone?
Naturally (as with most things), Hollywood has lied to us. Foreign body ingestion is yet another common case that Pyne sees reported after Thanksgiving — for example, dogs going to the vet with bones that have splintered and punctured their digestion tract.
Unfortunately, rogue turkey bones can be hard to keep track of when guests with food are everywhere. In the article Thanksgiving Safety Tips for Dog Owners, the Dogster editors recommend the following tips to keep dogs safe: “Don’t leave plates with bones lying around. Ditto for the turkey carcass.
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