These Holiday Foods Are A No-No For Your Pets

As the holiday season descends upon us, many of us will be celebrating with many delicious treats that we look forward to all year. While these might be some of our holiday highlights, often, these foods might be very bad, and sometimes even toxic for our pets. Veterinarian Leticia Fanucchi has weighed in on which foods should be kept away from our pets and what to do in case they do accidentally ingest them.

Fatty Foods

Starting with Thanksgiving, turkey and gravy are some of the most popular holiday dishes prepared, and while many of our pets would be happy to enjoy some turkey with us, it can be dangerous for them. The fatty turkey skin as well as gravy and butter are really not good for your dogs or cats, and can cause the development on pancreatitis in your pets. Treatment of this involves IV fluids, anti-nausea and pain medicine. Sometimes antibiotics might be used as well.

Alliums

A lot of alliums that are often used with holiday dishes including onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, and chives are toxic for cats and dogs. They can cause hemolytic anemia, which means a decreased amount of red blood cells. Signs of this include vomiting, lethargy, diarrhea, and jaundice. Treatment includes IV fluids, antioxidants, and anti-nausea medications.

Bread

Bread that has been made with yeast should definitely be kept away from pets, as they can ferment inside your pet’s tummy and create toxic levels of ethanol, which in turn can cause metabolic acidosis, and then a drop in blood glucose, seizures, respiratory depression, and cardiac arrest. In short, it’s a laundry list of issues. This also means keeping alcoholic beverages away from your beloved fur babies.

Chocolate

This one is more well known but still important to mention. The very same substances that make chocolate so attractive to humans, theobromine and caffeine, are the ones that are the problem for pets. These are toxic for both dogs and cats. Signs of chocolate “intoxication” include vomiting, diarrhea, increased heart rate, tremors, restlessness, and seizures. Their stomachs would have to be emptied as this is a medical emergency.

Grapes

While you might think feeding your pet fruit is a healthy treat, since it is for humans. However, grapes are actually toxic for dogs because the tartaric acid in grapes and raisins can cause acute kidney disease. The signs include vomiting, increase water intake, and intermittent diarrhea. This is another medical emergency so it’s important to to take your pet to the ER immediately.