Humane Society of Elmore County News
Halloween Safety includes Pets
This is Halloween week which means lots of fun for us humans but with quite a few risks to our pets. Candy, scary costumes, glowing items, parties, screaming children & adults are all things that our pets may not understand and that can lead to trouble.
When it comes to candy, please be aware that chocolate and the artificial sweetener Xylitol, found in many candies, can be toxic to pets not to mention the danger from swallowed candy wrappers & lollipop sticks! Please keep all candies safely out of reach of your pets and don’t leave pets unattended with a big bowl of candy at the front door. Make sure your children are aware that their Halloween Candy should NOT be shared with pets. Perhaps make a special ‘pet candy bowl’ with small doggy or kitty treats that your children can safely share with them, they have their own ‘treats.’
Glow sticks & rings help our children be more visible but best kept out of reach of pets as the contents are very bitter and could cause distress to your pet if chewed.
Wild and fun costumes are part of the holiday, but our pets may not feel the same way and could become scared of even protective so best to keep your pets safely apart from humans in odd and scary costumes. Keeping them separate from party antics will also help protect them from being fed inappropriate food, treats and candy by kind, but uninformed party guests.
Some pets are fine wearing costumes while others find it quite stressful. If you do dress up your pet, make sure the costume doesn’t constrict its movement, hearing or breathing. Never leave a pet wearing a costume unattended and also check to make sure there are no dangling pieces that your pet could get caught in or chew on. And if your pet seems distressed then please don’t force your pet to stay in a costume.
Please also keep your pets in another room or part of the house if you are opening your door for trick-or-treaters! It would be easy for a pet to escape, and we certainly don’t want a pet to be freaked out by scores of children in all manner of costumes resulting in either a lost pet or, worse, a bite. And make sure pets and ‘candle lit’ Halloween decorations are not left alone to help prevent them being knocked over and an accidental fire!
And just to be safe, make sure your pet is properly identified (microchip, collar and ID tag) in case it does escape through an open door while you’re distracted with trick-or-treaters.
