Easter is a holiday. It should be a time of celebration! Good food and good company sounds like a recipe for a wonderful weekend! But, things can go sour. If you have pets, take extra care. Nothing can ruin a good time quite like a sick pet. Not to mention how difficult it can be to find a vet during the holidays!
Continue reading to learn about how you can keep your pets safe this Easter season.
Easter goodies
Easter is notorious for all the yummy treats. Easter themed goodies showed up in grocery stores the day after Valentine’s Day and haven’t stopped tempting us since! For us humans, there’s no better time to indulge. Unfortunately for our pet friends, they aren’t lucky enough to enjoy the treats like we do. Even foods considered healthy for us can be toxic to your pet – check out this list of things to avoid. If you’re a dog owner, you know that chocolate is particularly dangerous. Any sort of candy and alcohol is also a no-no. Too bad we often keep copious amounts of these treats around during the holidays!
The ingredient in chocolate that is poisonous to pets is called theobromine. Its presence varies in chocolate depending on the type. Usually, the more pure or cocoa concentrated the chocolate is – the more theobromine. Dogs can only handle very small quantities of this ingredient. Your pet’s tolerance level depends on their size and breed. This isn’t something you want to guess about, so it’s better to keep your pets away from chocolate completely. If they do ingest theobromine, it may cause hyperactivity, vomiting, seizures, an irregular heart rate, diarrhea or death. If you notice any of these symptoms call an emergency vet right away!
The best thing you can do for your pets is to keep the treats out of sight and out of mind. If you are going to have chocolate and candies in the house, keep them up high and away. It may be tempting to put treats out on your coffee table, but it’s not worth the risk. If you are having company over and want to put out some goodies, place them on the kitchen counter or island. They will understand!
X marks the spot
Easter egg hunts are a whole other ball game. We know they can be a lot of fun, but they can also end in disaster. Just like kids can have a hard time finding all the eggs, you can too! If you hid them, chances are you’ve done a better job than you thought. The issue with that is that it can be hard to find them again.
The first step to keeping your pet safe is keeping them away from the Easter hunt area. Unfortunately however, this isn’t enough. Our next suggestion may sound a little excessive, but this is an article about keeping your pets safe after all.
When you’re hiding treats for your Easter hunt, make a map! It won’t take you more than 5 minutes to add this step. Draw a rough sketch of your floorplan, or simply list the location of every egg you place. Count up the total and double check you marked every treat down. When the kids (or adults) finish the hunt you’ll know exactly where to check for remaining treats. Once the coast is clear, your pets can have free reign again!
Another idea is to hide treats in mason jars. You can find small plastic and glass versions at your local dollar store. They look adorable and kids will feel like they hit a jackpot every time one appears! Less stress, more fun!
Company
Don’t worry we aren’t about to suggest that you don’t have company over during the holidays. But, what you can do is speak to your guests briefly about your pet. It will only take a moment to ask them not to feed your pet anything. It’s also a good idea that you mention where the garbage is if they ever need to throw out any waste, a.k.a. choking hazards!
Decor
Just like all the Easter treats, we’ve been seeing holiday themed decorations in stores for some time. By now, you may have picked up some pieces. But if not, we hope you take our advice on what to avoid when picking up any decor items.
Some of the most seemingly innocent decorations can cause your pets a lot of harm. We know that pastel colored grasses don’t exactly look scary. But, the issue lies with your pet ingesting or choking on small items. When you’re shopping do your best to avoid decorations smaller than the size of your fist.
Instead of stuffing Easter baskets with plastic grasses, fill up the spaces with stuffed animals or tissue paper. It may seem a little untraditional to abandon some of the classic Easter decorations, but pets take priority!
Flowers
As beautiful as they are, flowers can cause a lot of trouble. Depending on your pet they may be allergic to certain plants and flowers. We will mention some popular Easter ones here.
One problematic spring flower is lilies. They generally start appearing this time of year, but dogs and cats are actually allergic to them! The same goes for daffodils and azaleas. As wonderful as it would be to have fresh flowers in your home for the holidays, once again, it just isn’t worth it. If you do receive flowers as a gift, keep them out of reach.
Are you a gardener? If you answered yes to that question, chances are you’ll be starting soon. Early spring plants like tulips can cause issues for your pets too. The bulbs have high concentrations of allergens. Sometimes dogs will dig them up from the garden and ingest them. Consider keeping these spring flowers in planters instead this Easter.
The adjustments we’ve recommended in this article may sound like minor changes. That’s the best part. You don’t need to alter your Easter weekend too much to keep your pet safe. Do you have any suggestions or tips for keeping pets safe during the holiday season? Please share them below in the comments, we’ll all be grateful!
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