How to Celebrate Howl-o-ween Safely with Your Pets

As we all know, Halloween is a fun evening filled with candies, pumpkin and scary costumes. Although for pets, it can be a very unpleasant event.

Don’t share your treats with your pets. It’s essential to keep candies and wrappers away from our pets as they contain toxic ingredients and/or can cause a foreign body in their bellies. To celebrate, share a special pet-friendly treat that your little one might not get too often. (Peanut butter, frozen banana, or blueberries)

Keep away from the door. A lot of pets get scared of all the disguises and will bark, bite, or run away. During trick-or-treating hours, it’s a great time to have quality quiet time in an enclosed room or kennel away from the front door to reduce the stress and anxiety of all pets.

The dangers of the Jack-O-Lanterns. Caution of those wagging dog tails and curious cats, any flame around pets is a severe fire hazard. We can still enjoy the fun of the Jack-O-Lantern tradition, although let’s make it pet-friendly with battery operated candles.

Stress-free pet costume. Only pets that like to wear things should wear a costume while being supervised in case of ingestion and/or discomfort. If you want to include your pet in the family photo festivities, accessories, a seasonally themed setting, and/or filters (snapchat or photoshop) are always available.

Know the signs of food poisoning. Be ready and be educated before the biggest night in October. If your pet is vomiting, has diarrhea, fever, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, or if you’ve witnessed your pet ingesting candy, wrappers, pumpkin, and/or anything else they are not supposed to, contact your veterinarian for appropriate directions.

Written by: Monica Blanchard, RVT