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For a dog or cat, the holidays are full of bright, shiny fun. Tinsel dangles from a tall invader in the living room, outfitted with branches just made for climbing. Twinkling lights bounce off fragile ornaments, which often look just like balls made for a dog’s mouth. One crunch, however, and shards might cause injury.
“Think about it — to your cat and dog that tree is an invitation to a party. It’s filled with dangling ornaments that look an awful lot like the balls we give them to play with,” said Holly Sizemore, chief mission officer for Best Friends Animal Society, a nonprofit, no-kill sanctuary for homeless animals that provides adoption, education, and spay and neuter services.
Don’t forget ribbon — yards of color cascading over gift boxes, which to cats are ready-made forts offering plenty of hiding places. Without watchful human eyes, furry friends can get into trouble, especially if they are already known troublemakers such as Reniji, a 15-year-old Maine coon mix with four white paws.
“Oh, he never learns,” owner Cheryl Padgett told me via text. “He has eaten curtain sheers, plastic or straw bristles on brooms, and will chew on any kind of mesh. And he will try to eat any plant, real or artificial.”
Reniji was 2 years old at the time of “The Great Curling Ribbon Debacle” in which he “inhaled about a foot off a balloon I brought home from work in 30 seconds,” Padgett said. Fortunately, an endoscopy found no ribbons entangled in his intestines.
“He was fine,” she said. Her pocketbook was not — the vet bill came to $1,100.
Ingesting decorations is a common holiday scenario that can have dangerous consequences, said Dr. Dana Varble, chief veterinary officer for the North American Veterinary Community, a nonprofit organization that provides support and professional development for the global veterinary health care community.
“Tinsel, garland, and all that curling ribbon on packages, even fabric ribbons, cats and dogs cannot break down any of that as part of their digestion,” Varble said. “And even if the material doesn’t get stuck, it can cause a lot of damage passing through — upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea.”
Reniji, a 15-year-old Maine coon mix, has pica, an urge to eat items that aren’t food and don’t have any nutritional value. Cheryl Padgett
It’s not just cats that get in trouble, she said. “I saw a dog that ate an entire Christmas wreath. It did not end well. He had to have surgery. So, you have to be so incredibly confident that your pets are not going to eat your decorations.
“Otherwise, they need to be up out of reach of dogs and tucked in closets away from the cat. Even the Christmas tree needs to be in an area where they can’t decide that it’s a fun tree to climb.”
But you can’t blame the dog or cat, she adds, because such behavior is all part of being a predator.
“Dogs and cats are primed to chase and pounce, and cats use their claws to grab, and at the end of that predator behavior they’re programmed to ingest it, eat it,” Varble said. “That’s how they win the game against ribbon, the game against wire and the game against your Christmas ornaments.”
Toxic plants and food
There are other holiday dangers for your pets as well. Many flowers, plants and foods favored at the holidays are dangerous to cats or dogs or both, Varble said.
Vet tip to protect your tree Buy plastic mats — the type with spikes meant to go under an office chair — and put them upside down around the tree.
“The pokey ends are not enough to cause damage or cut their feet, but it’s enough to make them go ‘I don’t want to be on top of that,’” said the North American Veterinary Community’s Dr. Dana Varble.
“Occasionally, this time of year someone will get some very pretty red and white lily arrangements or amaryllis bulbs,” she said. “Lilies are extremely toxic to cats – the leaves, the stems, the pollen from the stamen in middle of those lilies — they can cause kidney failure and even death in cats.”
Add poinsettias, mistletoe and holly to the list of toxic holiday flowers, “so those should also always be kept on high surfaces and out of reach,” Sizemore said.
“Chocolate is very toxic to dogs and foods like grapes, onions, poultry bones and any kind of alcohol should be kept away from your pet,” Sizemore added. “Even the water in a real tree can grow bacteria, and if a cat drinks it, that can be harmful.”
For reference, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, provides a hotline for pet poisoning. In 2022, the society helped 400,000 animals, nearly a 5% increase over 2021.
Over-the-counter human medications led the list of top poisons in 2022, the ASPCA announced, followed by food poisoning from protein bars, products with the artificial sweetener xylitol, grapes, raisins and other toxic foods. Prescription medications for people were the third most common poison.
Is sleeping with your pets good for them? —
Plan to keep your pets safe this holiday season
