Homepage

Keep Your Pets Safe from Food Poisoning During Holidays in CNY Keep Your Pets Safe from Food Poisoning During the Holidays

By Margaret Haggerty

Reporter: It’s not just chocolate and grapes that will get your dog sick. Popular holiday ingredients that are also poisonous include different parts of the turkey… stuffing… nutmeg… mushrooms… candied yams… and anything that includes onion or garlic. Brooke Dyer looks after her friend’s dog now…but in the past has struggled controlling her own…especially on the holidays.

Brooke Dyer: I feel like he would always somehow find a way to like dig his paws into wherever the extra food was.

Reporter: The consequences of your dog eating something they shouldn’t isn’t just a stomach ache.
Signs of toxins include excessive drinking…diarrhea…vomiting…or even a type of coma.

Dee Schaefer: They have trouble digesting their food and it throws off their insulin as well. If a dog gets pancreatitis and you don’t know the signs it can kill them very quickly.”)

Reporter: One of the best ways to avoid these situations is by keeping your pet stimulated and occupied with something else in a comfortable environment while your entertaining your guest or eating.

Dave DellaContrada: Throw some pumpkin in there. Pumpkin is an anti-acid very easy on the stomach and it’s all fiber and we’ll put some crescent seal on that or saran wrap on that Kong and we’ll put it in the freezer. Freeze it for a couple of hours and then when the guest come over we’ll unwrap that, put it in their bed and they’ll kind of relax themselves.

Reporter: Dyer also uses a Kong to keep the dog she watches occupied. DellaContrada says the motion of licking reduces anxiety in pets so it not only keeps them occupied…but it also calms them down.

Dyer: Aw what a good boy.

Reporter: If you think your dog does have signs of poisoning… call the 24/7 Animal Poison Control hotline.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The holidays are here and before you know it dinner tables will be surrounded with delicious food. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and yes- even vegetables.

But before you sit down to enjoy the prepared food, it had to be put together. Onions, garlic, nutmeg all add flavor to those dishes.

And as you enjoy those dishes, your little furry companion is staring up at you wondering when it will get some too. You think, perhaps a piece of turkey is okay and drop it on the ground as a treat.

That all seems relatively fine, but did you remember to take the skin off? Did you check for cooked bones that may have been left there?

Dogs shouldn’t consume:

List of foods for dogs not to eat
List of food for dogs not to eat.
© 2021 Maggy Haggerty
  • Different parts of the turkey
  • Mushrooms
  • Candied yams
  • Onion/garlic flavoring
  • Nutmeg
  • Stuffing
  • Sage
  • Butter
  • Nuts
  • Bread/Cookie Dough
  • Chocolate
  • Grapes

And the consequences aren’t only a stomachache. At an extreme, it could be death.

“They have trouble digesting their food and it throws off their insulin as well,” said Dee Schaefer of CNY SPCA. “If a dog gets pancreatitis and you don’t know the signs it can kill them very quickly.”

Food poisoning in pets can be recognized by:

  • Excessively drinking water
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Lethargy
  • Coma

Whether it’s the dog jumping up on the counter, the kids dropping what they don’t want to eat, or the trash overflowing on to the ground it all poses as a hazard to the safety of your pets.

According to the ASPCA, about 50,000 calls were made to Animal Poison Control last year in relation to cases regarding human food. Chocolate is the leading toxin for the State of New York.

A way to avoid making that phone call is by keeping your pet busy with something stimulating in a comfortable environment.

Toys filled with treats are a great distraction, according to Dave DellaContrada, the owner of Mother Nature Pet Supply.

“Throw some pumpkin in there,” DellaContrada said. “Pumpkin is an anti-acid very easy on the stomach and it’s all fiber and we’ll put some crescent seal on that or saran wrap on that Kong and we’ll put it in the freezer. Freeze it for a couple of hours and then when the guest come over we’ll unwrap that, put it in their bed and they’ll kind of relax themselves.”

Therefore, not only does this keep them occupied with a treat; the motion of licking helps reduce their anxiety and can calm them down.

Even if food is pushed back on the counter, the dog can still reach it depending on the breed.

“A Great Dane is table level,” said Schaefer. “ You put the food on the counter and they’re right there.”

A more basic method to avoid Animal Poison calls is to put up a baby gate for the room where all the food is placed.

This holiday season keep the pumpkin pie to yourself, but the pumpkin puree to your dog.

Related Articles