How to Keep Your Pets Safe on Halloween
The halloween festivities are among us, which means plenty of candy, costumes and decorations galore. Which means you may need to keep an extra eye out for your beloved fur friend; so here are some tips to help you!
Keep Pets Away From the Door: It’s always a good idea to secure the pet in a separate room during trick or treating hours, just to make sure there are no escapee accidents while you are handing out candies to the trick-or-treaters. This will also prevent them from becoming frightened or threatened by trick-or-treaters, because too many strangers can overwhelm a dog and cause them to be unusually aggressive or protective. It’s better to be safe than sorry!
Costumes: Make sure your dog (or cat) absolutely adores its costume and enjoys wearing it before the big night, it’s probably best to test out the costume beforehand if possible. If your fur friend seems uncomfortable at all, then its in everyone’s best Interest to remove the costume before any accidents can occur. Also be sure to check that the costume does not hinder the pet’s sight, its ability to hear, its ability to breathe or their movement, try to make this night as stress free as possible for your pet!
Keep Your Pet Inside on Halloween: It is sad but true, there are cruelty related incidents that can occur on Halloween, so make sure to keep your pet safe and indoors to prevent anything happening to your beloved pet. Also be aware that it may be a good idea to keep black cats indoors for a few days before and after Halloween, since they are especially well known to have trouble around this time.
Candy: Trick-or-Treating should be fun for everyone, but please make sure to keep all chocolate and candy related items away from your furry friend! Chocolate can be especially dangerous to our animals and will make them quite ill. Limit the treats you give them to pet-friendly items only please! Make sure to stop by Pounce and Hound Fine Pet Goods to buy some pet friendly treaties that you can hand out to trick or treaters to give to their furry friends at home!
Decorations: Avoid any hazardous decorations in or around your house during the Halloween festivities, the last thing you want to do on Halloween night is spend it at the Vet Clinic! Ribbons, Streamers and anything that can be easily ingested is usually a no no, and make sure to keep the lit jack-o-laterns on the front porch and safely away from your pet! It’s also a good idea to double check that any electrical wires are safely concealed and away from where your pet can chew on them!
Trick-or-Treating: Although tempting, its probably best for everybody if you keep your dog at home while out and about collecting candy on Hallow’s Eve. The dog may become stressed and frightened by all the loud noises, and constant action happening around him/her, so for the safety and stress levels of your dog, its easiest to keep him/her safe at home awaiting your arrival!
ID: Please make sure that your animal is up to date with their identification tags/microchip information, in case your animal does get loose, it will make it that much easier and quicker to locate them and bring your furry companion home safely!
These are just a few helpful tips to make sure that everybody (furry and not furry) enjoys Halloween to the fullest extent! Your pet’s will appreciate the care you put into making sure they have a safe and happy Halloween as well, and remember, they wouldn’t mind a treat or two of their own (as long as they are safe and edible!) at Pounce and Hound Fine Pet Goods, we have a delightful selection of one ingredient meat treats, as well as carob cookies and carob brownies in store!
Pounce and Hound Fine Pet Goods
Pandosy Village Veterinary Hospital, 2720 Richter Street, Kelowna BC
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