Dec. 11, 2025 | Everybody deserves to have a happy holiday season, even your pets. Unfortunately, the holidays typically include some temptations that can be unhealthy and even life-threatening for our four-legged friends. For example, when decorating your tree or wrapping gifts, keep a close eye on where you leave leftover tinsel, string, and ribbons. Your cat or dog may find these decorations irresistible because they look like easy-to-catch, sparkly, and wiggly prey. In fact, they can cause serious stomach and intestinal damage. Play it safe by keeping tinsel off the tree and collecting all ribbons and string after gifts are opened. And If you’re making salt-dough ornaments or homemade play dough, be sure to keep your household’s pets away from them. They contain a great deal of salt, which can be fatal to pets if eaten. Be sure to warn any children in the house who may want to give a “treat” to Charlie the dog or Coco the cat.

Dec. 11, 2025 | If your dog receives a stocking full of pet treats, make sure he doesn’t gobble them all up at once, making them hard to digest. Unchewed pet treats can get stuck in the trachea or gastrointestinal tract. If your dog is in obvious distress from eating too much too fast, call your veterinarian immediately. Some telltale signs are drooling, choking, or vomiting. Take note of timing. If a bone or chew toy lodges in your dog’s stomach or intestines, the symptoms might not be immediate. Hours to days later, he may vomit and have diarrhea, not want to eat and have stomach pain. If the blockage stays there too long, your dog may become very ill. When in doubt, call your veterinarian, who may need to take X-rays, use an endoscope (a medical device with a special camera that can see inside the throat, stomach, and intestines), or even do abdominal surgery to remove any pieces of bone or chew toy that are causing the blockage.

Dec. 11, 2025 | If you have holiday plants such as poinsettias, mistletoe, or holly around, take care. When you display or dispose of these plants, your cat or dog may decide they’re good to eat. Take poinsettias, which can irritate your pet’s mouth and stomach and may cause drooling, vomiting, and diarrhea. If your pet eats poinsettia leaves, you can help by picking up the food and water dishes for a couple of hours to let your pet’s stomach settle. Fortunately, severe mistletoe toxicity is uncommon and usually occurs only if your pet eats a large amount. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea, difficulty breathing, slowed heart rate, low blood pressure, and odd behavior. Even though holly berries and leaves aren’t very harmful, they can still make your pet ill and you should prevent your pets from eating them. In both dogs and cats, the plant’s toxins can cause drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite and decreased activity.

Dec. 11, 2025 | Don’t give your pet table scraps that are high in fat such as skin from a roasted turkey or chicken. Not only can rich foods cause an upset stomach but they can also cause a potentially life-threatening disease called pancreatitis. The most common symptoms of pancreatitis in dogs include vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhea, fever, and weakness. In cats, the symptoms are less clear and harder to notice, such as decreased appetite and weight loss. And be careful what you put in the trash can. Dogs, especially, are notorious for helping themselves to the turkey carcass or steak bones, which can get stuck in your dog’s esophagus, stomach, or trachea. Sharp pieces of bones can also injure your dog’s mouth, esophagus, and stomach, and can cause severe internal injuries. Once your holiday meal is done, securely wrap up the table scraps and bones and dispose of them in a trash bin that your pets can’t get into.

Dec. 11, 2025 | You may know that eating chocolate can be dangerous to your dog or cat. But that’s not the only thing you need to be worried about this holiday season. For instance, the seemingly harmless mints common this time of year can cause life-threatening problems for your dog if they contain xylitol, which can also be found in chewing gum, toothpaste and mouthwash. Symptoms occur quickly after dogs eat items containing xylitol. Vomiting is generally first, followed by symptoms associated with the sudden lowering of your dog’s blood sugar, such as weakness, staggering and seizures. Check the package label to see if the product contains xylitol and call your veterinarian immediately if it does. And keep your pets away from alcohol, which can cause serious problems. The most common symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea and shaking. In severe cases, coma and death from respiratory failure can occur.