The Christmas holiday is a great time for the family but can sometimes be a stressful time for the family dog. We have put this guide together to try and highlight to dog owners some of the potential hazards within the home and behaviour that may stress your dog out.
Food Hazards
We all love our traditional Christmas meal, party food and sweet treats but none of these are suitable for dogs no matter how much they may pester you for them. Many of these foods have ingredients that are toxic to dogs or they are extremely high in fat or sugar, which can cause extreme health or digestive problems.
Remember that changes to your dog’s diet have to be made gradually to allow the digestive system to generate the correct enzymes to digest the new food and avoid making your dog ill. If you don’t make changes gradually then you can make your dog very sick; so why at Christmas is it ok to feed your dog full of food which is totally different to their normal diet.
We have listed below some hazardous foods but to be completely safe don’t feed your dogs anything different during the Christmas holiday. If you want to treat them then try adding vegetables to their normal diet to fill them up. Trust me they will enjoy it!
Christmas Pudding: These contain raisins or grapes which are highly toxic to dogs and can cause serious kidney problems. They also contain huge amounts of fat and sugar, which can bring on Pancreatitis.
Chocolate: Human chocolate contains theobromine, which is highly toxic to dogs and if enough of this toxin is consumed, it can be fatal. Never feed your dog chocolate and at Christmas make sure family members do not leave any chocolate lying around that your dog can help itself to; wrapped up under the Christmas tree is a common mistake. If you feel compelled to feed your dog chocolate then make sure you buy the variety that is specially made just for dogs where the theobromine content has been removed.
Stuffing or gravy: Generally turkey stuffing or gravy contains onion or onion extract, which is toxic to dogs.
Alcohol: Alcohol is highly toxic to dogs. When you have friends round make sure no one leaves their drinks where the dog can get to them, like on the floor for example. The effects of alcohol poisoning in dogs can be devastating.
Hazards within the home
Decorations, Christmas trees, crackers, party poppers are all very traditional at Christmas and New Year but present a chewing, choking or swallowing hazard to your dog. Make sure your dog is never left alone with the Christmas tree and always make sure decorations and crackers etc are out of your dog’s reach.
Children’s toys are in great supply at Christmas and your dog will love to investigate and chew them. When your children are opening their presents remove the dog from the room and make sure all toys are cleared up and out of your dog’s reach before letting him back in.
Sources of Stress
Parties and family gatherings can be stressful for your dog during the Christmas period. Either the house is full of people and noise or your dog will be left for long periods.
If you do plan to leave your dog, try not to leave them for very long. If this cannot be avoided then make arrangements for a friend, family member or neighbour to either look after the dog (if you are away overnight) or to pop into the house to make sure they can be let out to go to the toilet, are fed and watered and receive some company to break up the monotony of being left. Leave the TV or radio on whilst you are gone so your dog is not left within a silent house where every noise from outside may stress them out.
If you have lots of people in the house then make sure you provide your dog with somewhere quiet and warm to go if it all gets too much for him.
Puppies at Christmas
Finally, please don’t take on a new puppy at Christmas. Puppies need a great deal of looking after, which you may not be able to give them over the Christmas and New Year period. Wait until after Christmas when you will have more time to attend to their needs.
Written by Nicola @ Dog Store
