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Be alert when prepping the holiday meal, laying food out on the table and intermingling with guests to ensure your pets don’t sneak a bite while you’re distracted. Ask guests to refrain from feeding food from the table to your pets. High fat foods in particular can cause health problems for your pets.
- Alcohol
- Bones: Bones easily splinter and can cause serious health problems (even death) for your pet.
- Candy: Particularly chocolate—which is toxic to dogs, cats and ferrets—and any candy containing the animal-toxic sweetener Xylitol.
- Chives
- Citrus and pits: Keep foods containing citric acid away from your pets. Foods such as cherry pits, peach pits and apple seeds contain essential oils that have the ability to cause irritations, blockages and even central nervous system depression if a significant amount is ingested. Avocado pits are also toxic to pets.
- Coffee: Grounds, beans and chocolate-covered espresso beans.
- Eggs (raw or undercooked)
- Fish (raw or undercooked)
- Garlic
- Grapes and raisins: These can cause serious kidney problems.
- Leaves and stems: From vegetables such as tomatoes.
- Meat (raw or undercooked)
- Milk: Many cats and dogs have difficulty digesting lactose; even small amounts meant as treats can cause gastrointestinal problems.
- Nuts
- Onions, as well as onion flakes and powder, and all members of the onion (allium) family, including leeks and scallions.
- Salt
- Trash: Pets who engage in trash-digging can accidentally eat foods that are potentially poisonous to them. Keep trash in tightly sealed containers or hidden somewhere your pet can’t access.
- Xylitol, which is an artificial sweetener especially toxic to dogs and found in a wide array of diet drinks and foods, including some peanut butters.
Listen to “What Holiday Foods Can I Safely Feed My Pet?” on the Humane Voices Podcast
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