How to keep your pets safe over the holidays
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - There is one thing as certain on Thursday as the smell of roasting turkeys.
Animal hospital emergency rooms are going to be packed. It happens every year.
Those eyes are going to get to you, and you are going to want to make them happy, but some things associated with the Thanksgiving meal can kill them.
If we are going to feast, it seems only right that our pets should feast, too. But you need to know dark meat from turkey is too rich for them.
"I like the white turkeys, take the skin off. They don't need the extra fats and seasonings on the skin. Green beans are good. Broccoli is good, sweet potatoes are even good. Remember, though, the most important thing: no more than 10% of their daily diet should be from these treats," said Dr. Mike Hutchinson of Animal General of Cranberry Township.
Dr. Hutchinson said some foods will just plain make your dog sick.
"Avoid raisins, grapes, and fatty gravies."
Be careful where you leave the self-rising rolls before cooking, too.
"The dogs eat them. That will rise inside their stomach and cause blow intoxication. They get drunk from it because it releases alcohol and it's very serious. It becomes an emergency," Dr. Hutchinson said.
Avoid anything sweetened with xylitol.
"I'd be very careful because xylitol is lethal to dogs. It can cause a seizure in 15 minutes. So, we want to avoid any products with xylitol."
Stuffing is like a dog and cat magnet, but don't give it to them.
"At least in my stuffing, I put onions in, so that's taboo for dogs. We don't want him to have anything with onions, anything with bald garlic, that's not good," Dr. Hutchinson noted.
Watch out for what you do with the aluminum foil and the turkey bones. Many a pet has gotten into the garbage.
"Cooked turkey bones can perforate the intestines. This can cause an emergency as well."
And when your guests arrive, make the no-feeding rule clear.
"That's the other problem is, we have to protect our dogs and our cats from our guests."
If you can avoid letting the pets hover under the table, do so because often that's too much of a temptation for humans to slip them something.
But what about a little pumpkin pie? Isn't pumpkin good for dogs?
Dr. Hutchinson said raw pumpkin, right out of the can, is okay, but once everything is added that makes it taste good in a pie, it becomes off-limits to Fido and Fluffy.