Keeping Your Furry Friends Safe During the Festive Season

🎄 It's Christmaaaas! 🎄

December is a busy but exciting time of year, with getting presents ready, the house decorated and generally preparing for the big day, our usual routines change and it's the same for our dogs. Bringing lots of strange, singing and dancing decorations and festive foods into the house can intrigue our furry friends, so it is important that we keep them safe!

We thought we would share a few tips with you to keep all your pets safe this Christmas.

• The Christmas Tree and Other Festive Decorations

• Tasty Treats

• Festive Plants

The Christmas Tree and Other Festive Decorations

All year we have been telling our pups that they can't bring sticks into the house, and now they come home and there's a big tree in the living room. And on top of that, we have hung lots of shiny, ball shaped decorations on there. Very quickly this could become your pets favourite toy, especially if you have puppies or kittens.

Dogs and cats, especially puppies and kittens, like to explore the world with their noses and mouths. Many Christmas decorations have small, detachable parts which can create a choking hazard for your pets. Make sure to supervise your pets around your decorations to prevent them getting into mischief.

They learn very quickly that these new decorations are very fun and gain them lots of attention when they play with them (even if it is bad attention). To avoid having a bauble-less Christmas tree by Christmas Day, always supervise your pets to prevent them finding out how fun they can be, and consider putting up a barrier in between your pets and the Christmas tree.

Be particularly careful if you have opted for a real Christmas tree, as the needles start to drop they create an additional hazard. If the needles are ingested by your pets, they can irritate the mouth and stomach.

Tasty Treats

Food is a huge part of Christmas, from roast turkey, to Christmas pudding and all the leftovers on boxing day, all shared amongst family and friends. As much as our pets are a part of our family, sometimes it's best not to be sharing human foods with them as it can make them unwell, and could even be fatal.

Chocolate contains theobromine which is toxic to dogs and cats, affecting their nervous system and heart, and can also lead to dehydration. Some sugar-free chocolates and sweets also contain xylitol which is also toxic to both dogs and cats. Not only is the actual treat very toxic to your pets, but also the wrappers! As you can imagine, when a dog finds a tasty box of quality streets, he doesn't sit there unwrapping the individual chocolates. Consuming sweet wrappers can cause internal blockages which may need to be surgically removed.

Make sure you are putting boxes of chocolate away in cupboards, out of reach of your pets. Also be sure to tell any children in the family not to feed your pets, some children are inclined to share with their furry friends but are unaware of the risks.

Raisins and currants are in many Christmas foods like Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and mince pies. Currants are very dangerous to dogs and cats because it causes kidney failure and the toxicity is unpredictable, even a very small amount can be very dangerous. You should contact your vet immediately if you believe your pet may have ingested anything containing currants.

Alcohol is consumed in many different forms around Christmas and again is very toxic to dogs. Traditional puddings such as Christmas Pudding and Christmas cake all contain small amounts of alcohol, as well as some more modern treats like gin-infused mince pies. It's party season so lots of festive alcoholic drinks come out, like eggnog and mulled wine. Do not leave your drinks within reach of your pets.

And finally, some other food items to consider. It's very common for pet owners to give their pets leftovers. Cooked bones, sage and onion stuffing, some nuts and blue cheese are toxic to your pets.

Festive Plants

Some plants are toxic to cats and dogs, this includes holly, mistletoe and poinsettia. It is best to avoid natural garlands that are made up of these plants but if you do choose any that include them, be sure to keep them out of reach to your pets.

Look out for symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea. Sometimes skin irritation can occur when your pet has come into direct contact with the plant, this is more likely on poinsettias due to the sap.

Wishing you all a pawfect Christmas from Pooches and Paws.

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@poochesandpaws-petfirstaid.co.uk, or browse our website for our upcoming course dates for 2026.