The holiday season is about getting some much needed relaxation and spending time with your loved ones, and that includes your pets. Holiday decorations like trees and ornaments can be extremely intriguing to your furry companions, and who could blame them, but it’s important to pet-proof your tree and decorations to ensure they can have a safe and jolly holiday season as well.
Holiday tree needles can cause severe gastrointestinal irritation, and in extreme cases, can create obstructions and even puncture your pet’s intestinal lining. The tree water can also be dangerous to your pets if you use additives that preserve the tree, as those chemicals can be deadly to animals. There’s no need to worry though, you can have all the festive decorations you desire as long as you take the right precautions.
Artificial Trees vs. Real Trees
Choosing to put up an artificial tree is the easiest way to ensure your pet’s safety when it comes to ingesting needles and tree water. If you love the look and smell of a real tree, you can still put one up, just be sure to follow the proper pet-proofing precautions. Keep the tree well-watered to reduce the number of needles that drop, but avoid the harmful additives. You should also make sure you frequently sweep or vacuum the needles that do fall so that your pets don’t eat them.
Stabilize Your Tree
Dogs and cats are curious, and to them, your holiday tree is very out of the ordinary, so they’re going to want to inspect it. Large and small dogs can easily knock over most holiday trees if they jump up on them or brush against them, and cats are notorious for jumping into the branches and knocking them over. You can pet-proof your tree by positioning it in a corner or block it in with furniture so that your pets are less likely to knock it over. You can also place a pet gate around your tree so that there’s no possible way they can knock it over and injure themselves.
Decorations
Tree decorations and ornaments are beautiful and intriguing, and your pets think so too. Many ornaments are made from glass and are extremely fragile, which means if they fall and shatter, they could seriously harm your pets. Plastic ornaments are the best way to pet-proof your tree decorations because if they fall, they won’t shatter. You should also avoid using any edible decorations like popcorn strings, and salt dough ornaments, because to your pets, they’re just dangerous easily accessed food.
Protect your pets this holiday season; they deserve it.
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