Make sure that everyone gets to enjoy the holiday season by keeping the four-legged members of your family safe this December. It’s easy to get distracted at this time of year, so if you have pets, try to keep these ideas in mind:

  • Avoid tinsel and clean up strings and ribbon right away. Swallowed decorations can seriously damage internal organs, leading to a painful and dangerous situation.
  • Display and dispose of holiday plants safely. Poinsettias, mistletoe, and holly are toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, leading to bad gastrointestinal upset if eaten.
  • Be careful with pet treats. Your lucky dog probably loves his biscuits, rawhides, or jerky sticks, but if he eats them whole – or too many at once – he may not be able to digest them. Unchewed treats can get stuck in the windpipe or gastrointestinal tract.
  • Human food. Don’t feed your cat or dog people food. Food with bones (choking), chocolate, or xylitol (both toxic) can hurt your pet right away. Fatty holiday people foods can cause the painful and life-threatening disease pancreatitis in the long term.

Learn more about keeping your pet holiday-safe with this publication from the Food and Drug Administration.

Related posts:

  1. Medicare Card, Travel Tips for Your Holiday Season As Thanksgiving approaches, more and more people will be traveling in the next few weeks for holidays and family vacations. If you’re traveling by air this holiday season, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the best place to go for accurate flying information. Before you leave the house, confirm the proper type of ID that […]...
  2. Holiday Tip of the Day: Fireproof Your Holiday What you do with your Christmas tree, holiday lights, and even wrapping paper can be the difference between a happy holiday and a house fire. Learn how easy it is to keep your loved ones and home safe this holiday....
  3. Holiday Tip of the Day: Buy Safe Toys Kids’ wish lists can be so hard to resist. Keep these safety tips in mind while you’re shopping to make sure the gifts you’re buying will keep them happy and safe....
  4. Holiday Air Travel Tips Make your holiday air travel hassle-free with tips on family lanes, traveling with food and gifts, the 3-1-1 policy for liquids, gels, and aerosols, and more....
  5. Keep Your Personal Information Safe Online With Strong Passwords With the recent news that several popular websites have been hacked, we thought it was a good time to remind you what you can do to keep your personal information safe online. It all starts with creating safe and secure online passwords. Our Consumer Action Handbook offers several tips to help you create strong passwords. […]...
  6. Medicare Stress-Free Holiday Travel With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, holiday travel season is upon us. That tends to make for a lot of stressed out travelers trying to get to and from their families’ houses or vacation spots as quickly as possible. Whether you’re traveling by air or by car this holiday season, you can use these […]...
  7. NIH Expands Food Allergy Research Program Today, the National Institutes of Health announce that the Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR), established in 2005, will be funded for five more years. CoFAR will continue to foster new approaches to prevent and treat food allergies and also expand in scope to include research on the genetic causes underlying food allergy and studies […]...
  8. Check If Your State Has a Sales Tax Holiday Check If Your State Has a Sales Tax Holiday: Some states offer a sales tax holiday when you can save on clothing, school supplies, and more. Check your state....
  9. Know How to Make Water Safe to Drink in an Emergency Know How to Make Water Safe to Drink in an Emergency: Make sure you have bottled water on hand for an emergency, and know how to make water safe to drink if you run out....
  10. Agencies express support for infant safe sleep recommendations Representatives of the agencies in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with a focus on infant health and safety today expressed their support for the new infant safe sleep recommendations issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)....
  11. Medicare Card, Autism Awareness Month Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause social, communication, and behavioral challenges. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 1 in 88 children in the U.S. has an ASD. While there are no proven cures for autism spectrum disorders, research has shown that early treatment can […]...
  12. Order FREE Dear Abby Healthy Moms Advice Kit Get practical tips on hay fever, depression, keeping food safe, getting a good night’s sleep, HPV (human papillomavirus), and other topics. You can order the kit in printed form or view an online version of the publications....
  13. Delayed stem cell therapy following heart attack is safe but not effective Stem cells obtained from bone marrow, known as BMCs, can be safely injected into people 2-3 weeks following a heart attack, reports a new clinical trial supported by the National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. However, while safe, the BMCs did not improve heart function six months […]...
  14. Medicare Card: Gene Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease Plays Key Role in Cell Survival Scientists have discovered that a gene linked to Alzheimer’s disease may play a beneficial role in cell survival by enabling neurons to clear away toxic proteins. A study funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows the presenilin 1 (PS1) gene is essential to the function of […]...
  15. Medicare Card, Did You Know You Can Search for Food, Product, and Vehicle Recalls on Our Site? Did You Know You Can Search for Food, Product, and Vehicle Recalls on Our Site?...