The spookiest holiday of the year is fast approaching! As us humans enjoy the Halloween festivities, our pets may be in for a more frightful time as they encounter unfamiliar trick-or-treaters or scary decorations. Dr. Michele Drake provides some tips for helping your pets have a safe and fun experience this Halloween.

Featured Quote:

Then just be really safe. I just, I really don't recommend the dogs go out for Halloween. There's a lot of scary things out there.

 

Video Transcript:

Hi, I'm Dr. Michelle Drake, and I'm here to talk to you about some Halloween safety tips for both dogs and cats. Certainly, the biggest thing we see with cats is a danger of... well, certainly, you don't want them outside at Halloween for obvious reasons. There are always a few strange people who really are not particularly friendly to cats, and we want to especially avoid that on Halloween. But with cats, the bigger thing is the danger of decorations, ribbons. Some cats really like ribbons or plastic or things like this that some cats just... Oh, look. He's even thinking about it. They like to chew these and sometimes eat them, and that can be dangerous.

For dogs, more of the dangers include obviously eating a basket of candy that a child left out. There really are not a lot of dangers with Halloween candy as far as toxicity goes, unless there is some sugar-free things in there that could cause some problems for a dog. But dark chocolate is really the only truly dangerous chocolate thing. The other thing would just be eating too much candy and having a really upset stomach, and you might see vomiting and diarrhea. Certainly, if it's more than just one vomit or diarrhea, then you probably should give us a call and let us know. Dogs will also eat things that they shouldn't eat, ribbons and weird things.

Then just be really safe. I just, I really don't recommend the dogs go out for Halloween. There's a lot of scary things out there. We don't want them bolting out and getting hit by a car or something or just having a traumatic experience with all the costumes and things that are going on. There are very few dogs that will tolerate that well and be okay with it.

Then finally, it's super fun to dress up your pet for Halloween, but just be respectful because a lot of times they don't like it, or just try to find a costume that's comfortable. Some dogs just want their picture taken with their costume on, but there are many dogs that don't, and I think it's kind of obvious. You know your dogs well, or your cat well, and there are some animals that are just totally fine with them, and some of them that hate them. If they hate them, take a quick picture. Then take it off, and let them be free after that.