Stay Safe This Christmas – Monday 23rd December 2019

Stay Safe this Christmas

I want all you dogs to stay safe over Christmas. Your humans may not be aware of just how many risks you face at this time of year, so you are going to have to be responsible. If you can educate your humans as well that will really help. The biggest additional risks come from some things that humans eat around Christmas that are highly toxic for you. Let’s start with some of the important ones. A single currant or raisin can be enough to kill you. Those dried fruits can cause massive organ failure in dogs due to their toxicity. If there are mince pies, Christmas cakes or puddings around, please do not go near them. Tell your humans to keep things like that well out of your reach and not to drop bits on the carpet when they are eating them. I’ll give you more of a list of things to avoid in a moment.

What to do if you get it wrong

This is important pups, so listen carefully. If you or your human make a mistake and you’ve have eaten even a small quantity of something toxic then RING YOUR VET! Do not wait to see if the item makes you ill, by the time you see the results then it may actually be too late. You need to have your stomach pumped to get it out of your system and in some situations you may need to be put on a drip. Yes, it is that serious. If your kidneys fail you’re not going to be seeing another Christmas, so don’t let it happen to you.

What to avoid

This is far from being a complete list, but here are a few things that you need to avoid – I’ve already mentioned currants and raisins, but watch out for onion too – that includes gravy, stuffing, the sausages that humans eat – lots of things contain onion. You probably know about chocolate. Also Xylitol, which can often be an ingredient in human food is dangerous for you. Holly, Mistletoe, Ivy, Poinsettia and Lilies are all commonly around at this time of year and they are all poisonous for you.

You can find out more by looking at this advice from the Kennel Club HERE – but at the end of the day if you stick to your dog foods then you can’t go very far wrong – Oh and best steak – steak is safe, you can have steak. Tell your humans just to get you some steak.

Love

Alfie