During the Holiday season the last thing anyone needs is added stress due to Fido indulging with you at Christmas treats or Thanksgiving Dinner. Here are some useful tips to remember during the best time of the year!
Although the mean well, discourage friends and family from feeding your pet any type of human food. You may have no control over the amount or what your pet is being feed from underneath the table, or anywhere else. When pets are given food their bodies cant digest they may develop acite pancreatitis.
Acute pancreatitis is one of the leading causes of veterinary emergency hospital visits during the holidays. This life-threatening condition usually occurs from overfeeding companion pets particularly high fat foods. Some symptoms may include:
- Fever
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Painful abdominal area (from mild to severe)
- Difficulty breathing
- Dehydration
- Fatigue
- Loss appetite
Some Holiday foods your pet can tolarate and can even be a healthy all year treat:
- Canned Pumpkin Plain, canned pumpkin can be a great topper on dog food for its Vitamin A and carotenoids. Please ensure that it contains no added spices, sugars or other fillers.
- Butternut Squash Just like pumpkin, butternut squash is packed full of Vitamin A and carotenoids.
- Apples & Pears You can give raw, small pieces as treats.
- Green Beans & Carrots Your dog can have chopped green beans and carrots as raw treats in small amounts. To increase the bioavailability (digestibility), steam them for a few minutes.
- Sweet Potatoes Plain, steamed or baked sweet potatoes are nutritious in small amounts for your dog. However, sweet potatoes have approximately twice as many calories as pumpkin and butternut squash per serving. If your dog needs to shed a few pounds, I would avoid them.
- Turkey As long as you do not include the fat, skin or grisel. Remember NEVER feed your cat or dog anything with PORK!
However there are ceritain foods that can be life threating:
- Onions
- Raisins
- Grapes
- Bones
- Pork
- Chocolate (especially bakers)
- Macadamia nuts
- Corn cobs
- Mushrooms
- Strawberies
Medical Conditions to pay extra attention to:
- Food Intolerance – Popular Thanksgiving and Christmas foods that dogs and cats have intolerances to include turkey, ham, sweet potato, corn, peanut, wheat or potato.
- Chronic Pancreatitis – Any excessive amount of food your pet is unable to tolerate can be deadly.
- Epilepsy or Seizure-Prone – Anything cooked with rosemary, oregano, fennel or sage because they are neurotoxins.
- Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI)
- Diabetes mellitus