Keeping pets safe this Halloween

Thank you, and an honor of this Furry Friday, right? While most people love Halloween, of course, many animals... Are terrified by this holiday in addition to being scary. Halloween can be dangerous for our pets. Put on a costume like around the corner. My dog, I was like, Dr Ruth McPete and her dog Jet's here to discuss some of the common Halloween hazards and ways to keep your loved ones safe. This Halloween morning. How cute is Jet and so calm too. It's like he's not happy about this costume. He's not, I was gonna say he seems so compliant with this. Oh my gosh. So we're talking about keeping your pets safe. We're keeping our kids safe, keeping our pets safe. A lot of people, they go out trick-or-treating and they take their dogs. We had video of the West Hollywood Carnival. And whenever I go out there and I see people bringing their pets, I'm like, oh my God, this is so scary. It's a lot of bodies walking around, right? And lots of creepy sounds and scary costumes. And while we may love Halloween, it can be really frightening and dangerous for our pets. So it's really important that people, I always recommend they keep their pets inside. Right. Where their pet is going to be in a back room away from all the commotion because every year many pets get lost on Halloween when they get out of a yard or out of an open door. Yeah. So you want to keep them in a back room with the TV on, the radio playing to drown out the scary sounds, all the doorbell ringing. And then I recommend also giving them a long-lasting chew toy, something to keep them busy or distracted from all the trick-or-treaters ringing the bells. I didn't even think about the doorbell, right? And then you have all these strangers coming to the door all night long. They're both opening and closing. Getting their treats, but let's talk about the treats because there are many of these treats that are dangerous for dogs. Yes, yeah. Most people know, obviously, that chocolate is deadly, can be deadly to pets. But it's everywhere this time of year, and it's not just chocolate. Any candy that contains raisins or any sugar-free candy or gum that contains the sugar substitute xylitol can also be deadly. The problem is it's all over the place. These baskets are on the ground at dog level. And candy's being dropped in the neighborhood, so you want to be really careful. Try to keep candy safely out of reach of pets. How truly bad is chocolate for- It is- It is bad. It is dose dependent. So I always recommend do not wait for symptoms to occur. If your dog gets a hold of any chocolate, call your veterinarian right away or local emergency clinic. They'll let you know if it's an amount that you need to come in for. Yeah. But it can be deadly. So almost like, yes, we need to induce vomiting, get the chocolate out of there again, depending on how much they ate. But it's usually the little guys that eat the whole bag of candy. They have the biggest size, especially this little guy. So when a dog, you might not know that your dog has gotten into chocolate. What are some of the symptoms that you would see? Some of the symptoms may be vomiting, diarrhea. It can progress to a pet collapsing. Again, you don't want to wait. If you see wrappers all over the place or they get into stuff. And sometimes it happens before. So people have the candy laying out. So again, I recommend keeping it safely out of reach of pets. And also watch out for decorations. Mm-hm. Handles are everywhere. I recommend using the battery operated candles that are flameless because pets are drawn to the flames and they can burn themselves or worse yet, knock over a candle and start a fire. And so like small Halloween decorations, right? Because they're used to just grabbing whatever. And you know about your kids, right? Not getting close to small things. Yeah, they can ingest these little spiders, all the little toys, the pumpkins, the decorations, and those can cause an intestinal blockage. So it's really important to keep them away or they can get tangled up in the webs. So you want to be real careful, yeah, be careful and keep them safely out of reach of pets. And what about costumes for pets? Costumes, I love dressing them up, Jet is not a fan, but you want to make sure to use pets. So you want to make sure to use a pet safe costume because they're easier to get on and off. They're more comfortable. But never leave your pet alone in a costume because they can try to take it off themselves and get stuck in it, choke, get tangled up or decide to eat it so they never have to wear it again. So just be careful with that. And really quickly, this is one of those holidays, kind of like 4th of July when animals get scared. So you always recommend that you keep their tags on, you make sure that they have their Absolutely, yeah. You wanna make sure that every animal has a collar with an ID tag and a microchip, even strictly indoor cats, because again, the door is gonna be opening and closing all night, so even an indoor cat can get outside. And you also have a new book out, right? I do, I do. Tell us all about that. It is Lizette the Vet and Her Dog Jet. And it's the second one in a series, the Lizette the Vet series. And it's about a little girl who wants to be a veterinarian and her quest to find the perfect dog who just happens to be Jet. So cute. Where can you find this book? It's on amazon.com. You can also get it at barnesandnoble.com as well. Perfect. Yes. For more safety tips, just go to the website that you see right there on your screen. DrRuthPetVet.com slash pet tips. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a happy Halloween Thank you, Jet. You're so calm. Jet is how old? Seven? Jet is seven years old. Cheers! Happy Halloween!