Halloween Safety Tips for Pets

Halloween is always a fun time but when it comes to our pets and festivities, we always have to stay alert! Here are a few safety tips for this time of the year:

1. Trick or Treat candies are not for pets
Treats such as chocolate and raisins are very toxic to dogs, and wrappers and small toys can also put them at risk for obstructions that could lead to surgery for your best friend.

2. Don’t leave your pets outside on Halloween
Unfortunately, there are people that have been known to pull mean pranks on our pets such as teasing them or even injuring them so keep them safe inside for the night.

3. Keep them away from the door
There are strange, funny looking masked people coming to your door all night. This can be very frightening to a pet and cause them to react in ways they wouldn’t normally like dart out the door or behave differently.

4. Keep outdoor cats inside for several days before and after Halloween
Cats and especially black cats are at greater risk of pranks during Halloween. So much so actually that a lot of the rescue shelters won’t even adopt out black cats in October.

5. Keep Halloween plants such as pumpkins and cornstalks away from your pets
Corn stalks can be dangerous as if corn cobs are digested they don’t break down in the stomach and may end up causing an obstruction that would result in surgery. Pumpkin, even though this vegetable can be a healthy part of your pet’s diet, if consumed in big quantities could result in gastrointestinal upset.

6. Lit candles in pumpkins
These can be dangerous as your pet could burn themselves or start a fire if the pumpkins are knocked over, especially with the excitement of the evening.

7. Wires and electrical cords
Some animals love to chew electrical cords and for obvious reasons, this is very dangerous as it could cause an electric shock and injure your pet.

8. Unless your animal is used to being dressed up, don’t do it
Your pet could have compromised hearing or movement which can stress them out.

9. Try their costumes on before the big night
If the costume seems to cause them stress consider a token of the event such as a Halloween printed collar or bandana.

10. ID’s for your pet
Your safest option is to have your pet microchipped and the information up to date. However, if they aren’t please have a collar on them with a tag including your contact information and the pets name.

Written by Erin Pettipas, VA