Tempting Treats: A Vet Trip Waiting To Happen

At  this time of year, with Christmas fast approaching, and every Brit making the annual small talk relating to how fast the year has gone and  they can’t believe that Christmas is right around the corner when it only felt like yesterday that we were all still in lockdown having our  family gatherings over Zoom…our schedules can sometimes get a little bit  hectic, and accidents happen.

Hands  up whose hound has ended up in the emergency vet (or even potentially  ending up at the vet) for eating something they shouldn’t have!  Yes,  our hands are up too, don’t worry.  For all the knowledge we possess,  our hounds are not saints, and we have all ended up at the vet at least  once.

It happens.  Even the  best-behaved hound, who has never counter surfed in their life, can  suddenly find the motivation when there are cakes and other tempting  treats sitting out in the kitchen or on the table.  Not to mention when  you go to visit your grandparents who have bowls of every unsafe food  under the sun like nuts, chocolates and other nibbles variously sat  about the living room for people to casually entertain themselves with  while enjoying (suffering through) the mandatory family get together.

Our  various parents still ask us whether different foods are safe for our  dogs when we visit, despite being dog owners themselves in the past,  because they want to treat them…and it amazes us just how many people  don’t know what is, and isn’t, safe for dogs to eat.

Which  is quite important, since no one really wants to spend Christmas day  sitting in the emergency vet waiting room because their dog ate  something they shouldn’t…it really puts a dampener on the festivities  and a massive hit to the bank balance!

But,  as we said, accidents happen.  Between visiting friends and family,  children running around, food being unattended or being dropped without  any thought for the dog in the house…or the dog taking full advantage of  the situation by begging titbits out of people who don’t realise what  they have is toxic to dogs or just getting up on the counters, if not  doing a full body visit onto the dining room table, it’s down the hatch  before you have a chance to do anything about it.

So,  while we are all indulging, celebrating and generally having fun, it is  important not to lose our sensibilities and make sure that all the  humans in the house know not to leave food unattended within the dogs  reach or give in to their sad ‘I’m so neglected’ eyes.

Here are a couple top tips on how to prevent accidents happening during the festivities:

- Inform your guests on arrival not to feed the dog, no matter how much they beg!
- Don’t leave food out where it is likely to be unattended/unsupervised
- Put things away when they aren’t needed, or between meals
- Clean up after eating and make sure no food has been dropped
- Always clean up spills quickly, especially at parties or gatherings.
-  Use a baby gate or close the door to prevent your hound from  investigating, begging or otherwise crowding around the table while  people are eating
- Use pre-prepared enrichment to  keep your hound entertained and calm during the festivities and to keep  them distracted away from hounding people for their food!

Making  sure people are aware at the door is a very simple and effective way to  prevent accidents, but they can still happen.  So, what are all the  festive favourites that are dangerous for your hound?

-  Mince Pies and Christmas Puddings! These are packed with raisings,  currants and sultanas which are all highly toxic in small quantities.  They can cause acute kidney failure, even in very small amounts…but  symptoms might not show until 6-12 hours after ingestion!  So, if the  eat some and ‘seem fine’, they are not fine and you need to go to the  vet immediately.

- Alcohol!  This  is particularly dangerous, effecting dogs much faster and much more  severely than it does in humans.  Any amount drunk will require an  immediate vet visit, or the situation could very quickly turn fatal.

-  Tea, Coffee or anything caffeinated! Dogs have no boundaries and if  something smells nice, they will just stick their tongue in it  regardless of how toxic it is.  Caffeine is a stimulant that affects  their central nervous system and heart. Dogs are much more sensitive to  caffeine than humans, and even small amounts can lead to toxic effects  especially since they cannot metabolize it at the same rate we can, so  it stays in their system longer, exacerbating its effects which can  range from elevated heart rate and restlessness to seizures, or worse!

-  Chocolate! This really should go without saying, but amazingly there  are still people out there that don’t know.  Dark chocolate and cocoa  powder are the most dangerous, and when coupled with any other unsafe  food like chocolate covered nuts or raisings…that’s a big ol’ load of  trouble!  Chocolate contains theobromine which dogs are unable to  metabolise when ingested.
You might be thinking ‘my  dogs eaten chocolate before and been absolutely fine, stop  scaremongering’ and while we often hear this, there are numerous other  cases in which things have not been fine!

-  Onions or anything with onion in it!  This could be gravy, other  condiments, or appetisers. Whether cooked or not, these are very  dangerous to your dog and unfortunately the signs of poisoning can take  several days to show. If you suspect your dog has eaten onion,  regardless of symptoms, call the vet straight away.  It doesn’t matter  if it is fresh, dried, powdered or other processed onion, this does not  reduce the toxicity.

- Nuts! Most  of the common mixed nuts are highly toxic to dogs and include  Macadamia, Walnut, Cashews and Pistachios. Whether eating them directly,  or as an ingredient in cake, it’s not worth having anything with nuts  within reach of the hound!  

-  Xylitol! This is a sweetener found in many food items such as candy  canes and other sweets.  It is extremely dangerous for dogs because it  can cause a rapid and life-threatening drop in blood sugar  (hypoglycaemia) and lead to liver failure and blood clotting disorders.   If you suspect your hound has eaten something containing Xylitol, it is  a drop everything and run to the vet situation!

-  Bird Bones! Don’t be tempted to give any leftovers or titbits off your  plate to the dog, particularly anything with cooked bones in them as  they splinter, and cause can cause intestinal injuries.

-  Blue Cheese!  While we do not know why anyone in their right mind would  eat blue cheese, it’s often present on pre-made cheese or charcuterie  boards.  While we can live in hope that any sensible hound would dive  straight for the far more appetising and tasty cheddar, if they are  inclined to go for the blue cheese, it contains roquefortine C which can  cause tremors or seizures…so best keep that one out of reach.  Or just  straight up put it in the bin where it belongs!

-  Other foods such as corn cobs can cause intestinal blockages (yes, we  have heard of a hound having to have emergency surgery to remove one),  stoned fruits, citrus fruits, uncooked potatoes, unbaked bread/yeast and  heavily salted foods can all cause problems in their own right too!

…and  that’s just the food items! Other things to remember is many festive  plants like the ever-popular Poinsettia are toxic if ingested. If your  dog has a habit of munching on your house plants, best keep those as  well as any ivy, holly, mistletoe and yes even the Christmas Tree, out  of reach!

There are also the  Christmas decorations…we have heard of dogs eating the fake berries off  an artificial tree, candles, tinsel (and that stringy tinsel stuff we  can never remember the name of) and trying to kill the ornamental  reindeer.

Whether this is your  hounds first Christmas and don’t understand the dos and don’ts, or they  like bring out their annual festive gremlin behaviour or they are actual  angels, you want to take the necessary precautions to keep them safe  during the festive period!