BOO! Did I scare you? Welcome to spooky season, my personal favorite season! I know Halloween can be fun and games for all of us, some of my favorite things are spooking the humans, I’m really good at startling them and they seem to love it. Some great things about Halloween is obviously the fashion, I mean seriously have you seen some of their costumes? They are scary good! (Pun intended) The scary scenario of dogs eating chocolate gets a lot of press, but did you know that gum can be just as poisonous to dogs? If your dog eats gum – a whole pack or even a single piece – they could get seriously sick! The spooky ingredient found in that sugar-free gum is called Xylitol. From what the humans say, Xylitol is a sugar alcohol used as a sweetener in many products, including sugar-free gum and mints, chewable vitamins, oral-care products, and baked goods. If you get ahold of it, it can cause hypoglycemia and even liver failure in your pet. No matter the size, it is dangerous for all pets. It’s even found in some peanut butters as well.
That’s what happened to my friend Bear, she got into some sugar-free gum at her humans house. That’s her on the upper right corner, she had to get blood taken out of her to make sure she was okay. So now she has that new haircut on both of her legs. Candy is, obviously, not for your pets. Your dogs and cats don’t need hundreds of extra calories of pure sugar. (Side note: they also be bouncing off the walls all night long if you give them candy! Are you up for a midnight run?) Additionally, they won’t understand that candy is usually wrapped, either, so they’re likely to eat the paper and plastic around the candy, too, which can be harmful and even lead to intestinal blockage.
As I talked about the fashion, there are some rules if you want to be stylish and also safe, because the last thing you want is to end up spending spooky season at the ER. So here are some fashion rules: Nothing’s cuter than my friends Muggsy and Gizmo. Their human works here and she is the Halloween Queen. If you come into our clinic, all the spooky decorations that I try and play with were all set up by her. Costumes, though, aren’t for every dog. Always start with a dress rehearsal if you plan to have your dog in costume on Halloween night, make sure they can see out of their costume and are able to strut their stuff around the neighborhood. Also make sure they are warm enough too! Lastly, make sure when you try and gobble up the crumbs from your humans Halloween cupcake, be careful and don’t eat the plastic spider rings on the top!(They’re tacky anyways) Happy Howl-a Ween friends! Talk to you next month.
XOXO DaraKumar
