Spring Hazards and Pets

Today we're going to talk about springtime hazards out there for cats and dogs. This time of year, we see some dogs and cats getting into trouble with a few key things, so I just wanted to go over those things with you.

Today we're going to talk about springtime hazards out there for cats and dogs. This time of year, we see some dogs and cats getting into trouble with a few key things, so I just wanted to go over those things with you.

The number one thing that we see at this time of year is dogs and cats, mostly dogs, getting into chocolate, which is a common treat around Easter time. It might be in an Easter basket, on the floor, or on a countertop that the dog could then steal and eat the candy. The most deadly kind of chocolate is the dark chocolates and the baking chocolates. The least hazardous are the white chocolates or the milk chocolates, but, depending on the size of the dog and also how much they eat, can definitely be a toxin for dogs. So, we recommend that you bring your dog in right away if you suspect that they ate chocolate, or give us a call and we can help over the phone decide is this something we need to see the dog, or is the dog going to be okay depending on the amount that they ate. It's a very common thing that we see. Dogs think it's yummy, just like we do, so they're going to want to eat it. Sometimes they'll eat the whole wrapper and poop those out, too, but it's really the chocolate that we want to make that they don't have a problem with.

The second thing around Easter time is there's a certain flower, called a lily. There's lots of different kinds of lilies and a lot of them are toxic to cats. All portions of the lily plant, so the flower, the stems, the leaves, the whole thing. Even sometimes if they drink the water that the lilies are sitting in. If they've been sitting in there for a while, they'll get some of the lily in the water itself. So, all those parts can be toxic for cats, and it can be very serious. They can actually die of kidney disease if they eat the lily, so we recommend not even having those plants in your house if you have cats. Because, cats are inquisitive. They're jumping on the counters. They're going to want to come see what the new flower is, and might want to take a bite. So, just be super careful with lilies.

We also sometimes see dogs and cats eating the Easter grass, the little plastic strings of grass. Maybe there's chocolate in it and they like the flavor, or cats are just curious and they want to eat it. That can cause an obstruction in the intestine, and cause them to need surgery to have that removed. So, just be super careful around Easter baskets in general.

Another thing this time of year in spring is a lot of people are getting out in their gardens and gardening, putting down pesticides and things like that that could be outside. You want to be very careful with dogs getting into those types of things. A lot of times it will just cause an upset stomach if they eat the pesticide, but the one thing we want to be the most careful of is rat bait. If you're putting out blocks or at rat stations, the dogs can eat those, and just like it's toxic for a rat, it's going to be toxic for a dog. There are several different types of rat baits out there. They do different things in the body, but they are all toxic, so just be very careful and always bringing your pet in if you suspect that they could have eaten some rat bait.

Another thing this time of year, we see more insects, and therefore, more bees flying around. Most dogs or cats if they get stung by a bee, it hurts just like it would hurt for us, but that's the end. It's not going to cause a severe reaction. If you see them get stung, and you can remove that stinger, that might be all the treatment that they need. But, if they seem to be very painful, or they're having some swelling of either the foot if they stepped on it, or even it can be swelling of the face, hives, those types of things, swelling around the eyes, they need emergency care to stop that swelling and help prevent that from getting worse, Worst case scenario would be if they collapsed, may have vomiting or diarrhea, and that's the sign of a severe anaphylactic reaction, and they need to be seen right away for emergency treatment for bee stings. Not super common, but definitely something we see now and then this time of year.

The last thing would be cleansers in your homes. This might be a spring cleaning time where you're getting out cleaners and cleaning bathrooms and kitchens and things like that. Most of the cleaners that we use in our home are corrosive to the esophagus, the tube that takes the food down to the stomach. Most of the time, they don't want to eat that, because it doesn't taste great, but we will occasionally have a young dog who licks the floor, or got into some type of cleaner and is having some trouble. So, just keep all household cleaners away from dogs and cats. They should not be eaten obviously.

We hope you guys have a great spring, and keep those pets safe. Thank you.