Best Friends Animal Clinic of Marshall Virginia
SEASONAL PET CARE TIPS

__Halloween has come and gone but, if your home is like ours, the candy lingers on. Please remember to keep all chocolate away from your dogs and cats - yes, cats also will break into the candy bowl. The active ingredient is theobromine but the caffeine can also cause problems for pets. Chocolate can cause vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, muscle tremors, arrhythmia (irregular heart rate), seizures, coma and death. If your pet gets into chocolate please call your veterinarian immediately or take your pet to the nearest emergency veterinary clinic available.
__Thanksgiving - watch your leftovers! Don't let your dogs get into the trash (or the table) after the turkey bones or ham leftovers or any other food that makes it to the trash. These foods are usually very fatty and are not something your dog is used to and could cause anything from transient vomiting and diarrhea, which is bad enough, to pancreatitis that could require hospitalization and even lead to death.
__ Christmas tinsel can be a real hazard to your cat since cats love anything shiny and stringy. However, this can cause an intestinal blockage or what's known as a linear foreign body which basically is the string cutting into the inside of the intestines causing a life threatening condition that will require surgery.

_ _The cold weather is fast approaching. If your cat or dog has access to the outside or stays outside primarily please make sure they have access to the garage or shed or somewhere they can get out of the wind and snow. Check their sources of water to make sure they are not frozen over. Pets can dehydrate in the cold if they cannot get to unfrozen water. Better yet bring them indoors and keep them indoors. Do not let a new cat or young puppy outside unmonitored for their first foray into the great outdoors during the winter. The season is just too harsh for a youngster to be introduced to the outside.