Keep Your Pets Safe This Christmas

Holiday Safety Tips for Pets

1. Watch Festive Foods
Many holiday treats—chocolate, raisins, festive doughs—can cause serious illness in pets. Keep food safely out of reach.

2. Secure Decorations
Ornaments, tinsel, and wiring can be tempting to chewing pets. Use pet-safe décor and keep fragile items well out of reach.

3. Be Careful with Lighting and Candles
Silent tinsel or wire bites can cause electric shocks or burns. Opt for LED lights and LED candles to avoid risks.

4. Manage Holiday Routine Changes
Changes in schedules and increased activity can stress pets. Keep feeding and walking times consistent and provide quiet retreat spaces.

5. Provide Safe Chew Toys
Offer durable, pet-safe toys to keep your pets engaged and less focused on harmful items like wrapping or crumbs.

6. Monitor Hidden Hazards
Keep gift bags, wrapping paper, ribbons, and small trinkets out of paws' reach to avoid choking or digestive blockages.

7. Prevent Accidental Escapes
With extra foot traffic, guests, and door openings, ensure pets are securely contained and ID tags are current.

8. Reduce Holiday Anxiety
For sensitive pets, consider calming pheromone diffusers or a quiet area away from noise and disruptions.

With the merry season literally just around the corner, it is important to remember to keep your pets safe whilst celebrating amongst family and friends. Christmas brings with it a multitude of fun, food and laughter so needless to say, it can be very easy to overlook which festive foods and decorations aren’t suitable for your furry little friends.

Certain measures, such as ensuring your pets are wearing relevant pet tags, engraved with your details when they go out is crucial in keeping them safe during the busy season. This is especially important if you are hosting over the winter months, as some pets can spook easily around an influx of new people.

There are many other provisions you can carry out to ensure your pet is safe during the Christmas season; here are a few tips to help get you and your pets through the next few months safely:

• Be sure to keep lights and wiring away from your pet - many curious pets enjoy chewing on things, and leaving lights on unattended could result in your pet electrocuting themselves by chewing the wires
  
• Be careful with flower arrangements and bouquets. Some pets, especially cats, can be allergic to certain flowers, such as poinsettias and lilies. The pollen contained in some of these flowers can be toxic for them so ensure they are out of reach at all times
  
• Be very careful with chocolate during the merry season as the smell of chocolate is attractive to pets, especially dogs, but is poisonous and incredibly harmful for both cats and dogs and could cause illness or even death if ingested
  
• Real Christmas trees are far more dangerous to pets than the plastic variety as pine is toxic for pets, not to mention pine needles which are incredibly sharp and can puncture animal’s organs in no time. Also, ensure you are careful when hanging any tinsel as this could be detrimental if it ends up strangulating your pet while they are playing with it
  
• Be careful with any lit candles on display - all it takes is a mere brush past from one of your pets to create a fire hazard. Keep out of reach and somewhere your pets cannot jump up to easily
  
• If you are tempted to give your dog leftover meat from your festive meal, ensure you are careful to remove any bones, even small ones can cause unexpected injury when splintered
  
• Always ensure your pets are wearing personalised pet tags, engraved with your contact details in the event that they get lost.
  
• Be wary of fireworks during this time of year if you have outdoor pets
  
• A great way to prevent your cat snooping in places you don’t want them to is to place lemon or orange peel in or around said areas – cats hate citrus so this will act as a deterrence
  

Final Thought

The holiday season should be full of warmth and joy for everyone—including our pets. With a few mindful precautions, you can create a festive, safe, and happy home for your four-legged family members.