Dr. Stephanie Wolf says the holidays are coming and potentially introducing extra stress to our pets as well as ourselves. Keep in mind our pets need a safe space in an area that is calming that they can retreat to, just like we need to do sometimes.
Dr. Wolf has some tips to keep the holidays safe and fun for everyone.
Decorations are pretty and fun to look at and we can spend a lot of time and money putting them up and in a matter of a few minutes can be completely destroyed. Things can be torn apart and ingested. Cats, dogs and a lot of other pocket pets, birds included can sometimes find these tiny little decorations that we put up to be very intriguing and interesting to eat.
If you are planning on carving pumpkins or doing any kind of gourd work, making decorations or centerpieces know that these can cause upset stomachs too if your pet decides to take a nibble.
Never use candles, never light any candelabra that your animals can get themselves into.
Keep your animals eating schedule routine and keep them on-time. Don’t vary any diets at this stage of the game. It’s better to give them what they are normally use to. Don’t give them a lot of extra food or treats because you think they may be unhappy with any sort of guests who came over. Dr. Wolf says if their feeding time is 4:30pm don’t feed them one minute later than 4:30. She says it is amazing how quickly they can go to the kitchen and help themselves.
If your animal likes to be dressed up costumes can be a good idea but if not, then don’t do it.
