CBS3 Pet Project: How To Handle Stress And Potential Dangers That Come With Holidays With Your Pet
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Everybody loves Thanksgiving, but the holidays can be a stressful time. Pets can pick up some of the sense of stress, so it's important to consider your dog's or cat's needs as well. It may be the case as well that your dog or cat can save you from some potentially sticky family situations.
With the added stress, it's important to keep your pets' routine very much like it normally is. Take them for their normal walks, keep life normal.
But the turkey and the food can be a temptation for the dogs, who will get their noses into everything -- and that is going to be the problem. If you get anything with extra fat that dogs are not used and strings can be lethal for dogs and cats if they ingest them.
Pancreatitis can occur even with sweet potatoes mashed with butter if they get into that. Dogs are not used to a higher level of fat.
Make sure you always know where your emergency vet is because you never know if this is the Thanksgiving that they'll get into something they shouldn't have.
Plastic wrap as well is dangerous to pets.
Remember to take it super easy with the pets during the holidays.
If you're getting a new dog this time of the year, they're not toys -- they have to be folded gently into the family routine. You shouldn't treat them as gifts and toys. It's a major responsibility.
Watch the video above for more on this week's CBS3 Pet Project with the Pennsylvania SPCA's Carol Erickson.
