Spooktacular Bonus Episode: Keeping Your Pets Safe This Halloween

Written By Tyler Sugerman-McGiffin

Join Dr. Sugerman in this special bonus episode as we delve into the ghoulish side of Halloween, focusing on the safety of our beloved pets. We'll uncover the hidden dangers lurking in Halloween candies, decorations, and costumes and provide essential tips on how to protect your furry friends from spooky hazards. Don't let this holiday turn into a pet emergency – tune in for invaluable advice on ensuring your pets have a safe and happy Halloween. 

What You’ll Learn:

  • The hidden dangers of Halloween candies, especially those containing chocolate and xylitol, which can be toxic to pets

  • The toxic substances in chocolate, such as theobromine and caffeine, and their effects on cats and dogs

  • Other potential toxins found in Halloween candies, including macadamia nuts and raisins, and their effects on pets.

  • The risks associated with pets ingesting candy wrappers and how it can lead to gastrointestinal foreign bodies.

  • Tips for keeping your pets safe during Halloween, including the importance of secure storage for candy and using child safety locks.

  • What to do if your pet does consume toxic substances like chocolate or xylitol, including the importance of inducing vomiting.

  • The hazards associated with Halloween decorations, such as artificial spider webs and glow sticks, and how they can affect pets.

  • The potential risks of pets ingesting or chewing on costumes, including the risk of obstructions and metal toxicity.

  • The importance of ensuring that any dyes used on pets are non-toxic and safe for them.

  • Safety precautions regarding candles to prevent burns or accidents involving pets.

  • The importance of pet identification and the benefits of collars, tags, and microchips.

Ideas Worth Sharing:

  • "Unfortunately, many candies, especially those that contain chocolate and xylitol, are potentially lethal for our pets." - Dr. Tyler Sugerman

  • "Those candy wrappers after the kids have already eaten the candy, right? Those themselves can even be harmful, if they eat enough of them..." - Dr. Tyler Sugerman

  • "As far as keeping your pet safe from all of these things like these candies and candy wrappers, it's really best just to keep them locked up."- Dr. Tyler Sugerman

Resources:

ASPCA Poison Control
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control
(888) 426-4435

Pet Poison Helpline
https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/
(855) 764-7661

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Read The Transcript:

Dr. Sugerman: [00:00:00] Hi, and welcome to Vetsplanation. I'm your veterinary host, Dr. Sugerman, and I'm going to teach you about veterinary medicine. In this podcast, we can dive deeper into the understanding of what our pets are going through and break down medical terms into easier to understand chunks of information. Just a quick disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only.

This is not meant to be a diagnosis for your pet. If you have questions about diagnostics or treatment options, please talk to your veterinarian about those things. Remember, we are all practicing veterinary medicine and medicine is not an exact science. Your veterinarian may have different treatment options and different opinions.

The information I provide here is to help pet parents have a better understanding about their pets. If you like our podcast, please consider sharing this podcast with at least one friend or just somebody else who has pets as well. Now, let's jump into this week's episode.

Tyler: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Vetsplanation. I am your host, Dr. Sugerman, and [00:01:00] today we're going to be doing a little bit of a mini episode for Halloween. So today we're going to be tackling some of the spooky topics and discuss potential Halloween toxins or other Halloween things that can be harmful to our pets, and tips on just how we can help them navigate through Halloween.

So let's start out with something that's pretty common and yet dangerous candies, right? Candies are everywhere during Halloween, and your pets are gonna be pretty tempted to eat those candies. So unfortunately, many candies, especially those that contain chocolate and xylitol, are potentially lethal for our pets.

For instance, chocolate actually contains two different chemicals that are toxic. One is called theobromine, and the other one is caffeine. Same caffeine we think of in like our you know, coffee essentially. Both of these substances are toxic to both cats and dogs, the darker the chocolate, the more dangerous it is.

Xylitol on the other hand , is it's a very common sugar substitute and it's [00:02:00] found in many different types of sugar free candies and gums. It can cause insulin spikes though, and people who have diabetes will know a little bit about this, but when insulin spikes up, it actually leads to what's called hypoglycemia, which means very, very low blood sugar.

So dangerously low that it can cause seizures and it can even cause liver failure as well. You can hear more information on like chocolate toxicity in episode six. Another thing that we might find in our Halloween candies are going to be things like macadamia nuts. These can cause pretty profound vomiting, they can cause wobbliness, or they may even be like temporarily paralyzed from it.

And they can cause hyperthermia, which means that the temperature inside their body is very, very high. And that can be very serious because it can cause things like brain damage and seizures. And they can even cause pancreatitis because macadamia nuts are actually very fatty. So if they get enough of it, it can cause [00:03:00] pancreatitis.

And for more information on pancreatitis, you can also listen to episode 10. Which chocolate toxicity can also cause pancreatitis later on as well. Raisins those are another possible toxin in both cookies and candies. So raisins can cause elevated kidney values, which could unfortunately potentially lead to kidney failure.

Those candy wrappers after the kids have already eaten the candy, right? Those themselves can even be harmful, if they eat enough of them, they don't really break down very easily and it can just ball up and then cause a blockage of the intestines we call that a gastrointestinal foreign body And you can hear more about gastrointestinal foreign bodies on episode 34. So as far as keeping your pet safe from all of these things like these candies and candy wrappers and stuff It's really best just to keep them locked up.

Remember that even if the pet doesn't normally counter surf, they still have that ability to do that. And this is the time of year where we have large amounts of candy and so I'd rather not [00:04:00] have something super tempting on the counter, even if the pet is a really good pet and doesn't normally get into those things.

Plenty of pets do know how to open cabinets and drawers, so keeping them low in a cabinet and drawer isn't really a good idea either. And also, keeping the bags of candy in the kid's room, definitely not safe. And I feel like that's for two reasons, one, because of the pets, we don't want them to get into it.

But you have no idea how much candy your kid is eating. Seriously, if I kept my bag of candy in my kid's room, it'd be gone that night, I swear. But ideally then, putting them up really high in a cabinet would be great, especially if there's one that has a child safety lock on it, or some sort of locking mechanism. So we can just try to keep it really high, out of their reach, and some sort of locking mechanism, just trying to make sure that they can't get into that.

All right, let's talk about real quick, if they do get into those things, definitely bring them into your veterinarian. If there's chocolate toxicities, like [00:05:00] I said, you can hear more about that on the previous episode.

But we want to make them vomit as soon as possible, so we can try to get that out. Same thing with the wrappers. If it's in the stomach, we're more likely to get it out, so we can make them vomit to try to get that out. If there's xylitol, again, that can be very, very serious. So definitely bring them in so that again, we can make them vomit. And then we may have to hospitalize them just depending on how low their blood sugar is at that point.

All right, let's talk about things that are not things that we think about edible things. So decorating your house for Halloween, super fun, right? Like we always decorate our house. And luckily my wife does so much of the decorating.

It's always a fun time around our holidays, but some of those decorations can also pose hazards to your pet decorations like those artificial spider webs, those can become choking hazards, or they can cause linear foreign bodies, meaning that the cats eat them, and then they just get they just become one giant string, [00:06:00] and then it gets caught up in their intestines, and then can cause a gastrointestinal foreign body.

We just call them linear foreign bodies because it's a long line. Also, certain things like glow sticks and glow in the dark products, they contain a chemical called dibutyl phthalate. It's a clear to yellow, oily, bitter liquid that can cause an irritation and nausea to pets if it's swallowed. And interestingly, like you would think that it would be a lot of dogs chewing on them, right? Cause it's a stick, right? It's a stick like object. So you would think that they would want to chew on them. But oddly, there's actually been more instances of cats that have been called in to the ASPCA Poison Control of cats who have punctured these sticks and then are just profusely drooling, vomiting, things like that.

If they do get into that, I would suggest calling the ASPPCA or Pet Poison Helpline so that they can direct you on what to do. Sometimes they're going to tell you probably just wash out [00:07:00] the mouth and sometimes they're going to tell you it's enough that they need to come in. Definitely call them if that's the case.

So costumes, those can be another problem, whether it's the costumes that your pet wears, or it's a costume that your kids are wearing, or it's a costume that you're wearing. There's always, usually like lots of beads and snaps and metal, and if the pets do eat those, those can either cause an obstruction.

Cause it to where they have a blockage in their intestines, depending on how small the pet is, or certain metals can actually cause a zinc or lead toxicity. These costumes are not meant to like last for years, like a lot of these are meant to only last for a short period of time, so a lot of them will contain things like Zinc and lead in them.

So if that happens and you know that the pet ate it, again, bring them into the ER. That way we can make them try to vomit as long as it's in their stomach. If it's moved past there, then unfortunately like we have to discuss other options. Like I said, you can go back and listen to that on episode 34 if that's the case.

Also, one of the other interesting things is [00:08:00] people like to dye their pets around this time as well. And I've seen some really cool dye jobs. There was this poodle that came in once and they had dyed it as a scene from The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was epic. Awesome. I love the idea of doing those things.

You have a white poodle. It's a giant white canvas, right? Or if you have a black poodle, and you can like, do just colors on it. I think that's awesome. But, we just have to make sure that these dyes are not toxic to animals. Especially like cats, they groom themselves constantly, and so if you put a dye on them that's toxic to them, and they're grooming themselves constantly, they're going to absorb that in their mouth.

And then for dogs, like it can cause really bad irritations. I've seen them cause burns for some of the dogs when people have tried to do like certain types of dye jobs. So just make sure that these things are okay for animals. People have also told me to it says it was nontoxic to people. And yes, it might be nontoxic to people, but that doesn't mean it's nontoxic to animals. So you got to make sure that they are. For sure, non [00:09:00] toxic to animals if you're going to be doing that.

Let's talk about candles. Candles are a huge hazard as well. They're great for spooky ambiance, and we just want to make sure that they're out of the way of the wagging tails, or curious noses, or the precarious paws, right?

Keeping them just out of reach of the pets will be the best preventative. If they do get burned, you know if it's just the singe of the fur not a big deal but when it comes down to burning their skin and it is a much bigger deal so they do need to come into the ER if that's the case So just keeping them out of reach is the best preventative for a trip to the ER.

Otherwise just be aware of like also passing out Halloween candy. Just because our dog or a cat is really great with strangers doesn't mean that they're not going to get scared by all these scary costumes or become really anxious with the doorbell ringing every three minutes.

We don't want them to run off. Especially like the door is opening constantly, right? [00:10:00] So we don't want them to realize that the door is opening constantly and then run away. So it's best usually to keep them in some sort of quiet environment. It's safe away from the public. Now, if your pet doesn't normally wear a collar, put a collar with a tag on them that night.

You just never know what can happen. And if your pet gets out, you want someone to be able to like easily get a hold of you if they can find your pet. Ideally, they have a microchip too, so that if for some reason they're their collar does get off, that they already have some sort of identification that we can use at the vet hospital to try to get a hold of you.

And then if for some reason you don't have either of those and they get out, I recommend calling the local emergency hospitals because sometimes people will drop off the pets there as long as that they're a facility that will take strays. And then In the next day, start calling the Humane Societies to see if anybody has found your pet.

Now, both of my dogs and my cats, when they have their tags on, they usually will say [00:11:00] indoor only. So people know that they're not just supposed to be roaming the streets, because people will see a dog and they're like, oh, it's probably just, supposed to be out.

They're probably on a farm, whatever, or they see a cat, and they're like, yep, outdoor cat. Most of mine will say indoor only, so that people understand that my pet is not supposed to be outside. They are prissy little pets. It is really important to keep an eye on our furry friends this Halloween season.

I'm not saying these things as if you shouldn't do anything for Halloween. I think Halloween is a really fun time, and I just want to make sure that we just can try to limit the amount of trips that you're going to have to take to the ER. It's not fun when your dog has eaten all your kid's candy, and now your kid's upset because they ate all the candy, and now you're in the ER because your dog ate all the candy, right? Or they chewed up a costume that the kid wanted to wear afterwards. And now you have this major surgery you may have to do, plus you have an [00:12:00] upset kid. Really like, all of these things are just trying to help keep your pets safe. Definitely enjoy the holiday, but just do things that are more mindful to make sure they, again, you don't end up in the ER.

Alright, let's talk about our animal fact real quick. We talked about bats last week. So today we're gonna be talking about a group of animals known for their trickery and death. Any ideas? What if I told you that they actually are, like, a group of them is called a murder? So yeah, that would be ravens and crows that we're going to be talking about.

Did you know there's really only two types of crows in the U. S.? There was three, but one of them was absorbed. So the most common crow is the American crow. And then the second most common one is the fish crow. They both look pretty similar and they even look pretty similar to ravens. Fish crows tend to want to be like around the water.

They want to stick to some sort of water source, whether it be beaches or rivers, just some sort of water, whereas the American crow can just be seen pretty much [00:13:00] anywhere. In general, the difference between the crows and the ravens is that we call the bigger ones the ravens and the smaller ones the crows.

The ravens are about two to three times the size of a crow. They also sound different as well. And it's hard to determine whether there's any specific lineage like genetic lineage that kind of push them into Ravens and crows as if they're two different, very different distinct groups. But we do know that Ravens and crows actually do not get along.

They do not want to be around each other. So I would have to think that there's some sort of different lineage there. But we always think about them as pests, right? So we think about the birds movie. You think about crows eating all of the roadkill. They're going through your trash cans. They're really annoying.

It's really interesting. We always think of them as these big pests, but they're actually very, very smart birds. They've been seen to do things like distracting sea otters. So that they can steal fish from them. They can learn to open containers. [00:14:00] So you think that you've sealed your food away, like dog food away and stuff, but they can learn to open those containers because they're really good at puzzles.

They'll drop hard nuts onto the road and just wait for a car to run over it to crack it. So that way they'll be able to eat it because their beaks are actually not very good at cracking open nuts so they find other ways, like almost like tools to do those things. They've also been seen using tools.

So if they want to get something out of a small place, they've been seen using sticks to be able to push things up out of places, or, if they want to keep away predators from their nests, they've pulled apart pine cones, like those little leaf flip things out the pine cones and throw them at squirrels and stuff coming up their trees.

Apart from food, they can also recognize faces, which is good and bad for us, depending on whether that face helped them or hurt them. But the crazier part is that they can also pass that information on for generations as to [00:15:00] whether that is a good person or a bad person as far as their face goes.

An experiment was performed where a researcher captured American crows using like this caveman mask. And then 10 years later, the researcher walked across the campus wearing that same caveman mask, and the crows started dive bombing him and like just squawking at him. So they definitely remember faces for quite a few generations.

They'll hold funerals or wakes for the deceased and they call out to others to gather around the deceased and they make a lot of noise, researchers think that this is because they want to warn other crows of potential hazards, such as like the caveman mask. And they're also very tightly bonded.

They prefer to be very social and live with large groups of other crows. The roost with up to five generations of family members and have been, like, especially in the winter, they've been seen in numbers up to the two millions roosting together. Five [00:16:00] generations is a lot, right? So they've actually recorded that the oldest documented wild crow was 17 years old and the oldest documented captive crow was 59 years old.

So they can live for a very, very long time. They're also very helpful as part of the family unit after about a year old, they haven't quite gone into maturity yet to create their family that's at about two years old. So at about a year old, they'll help their mom with cleaning up the old nest, making a new nest, feeding the hatchlings. And also like when mom's on the nest, they'll come and bring mom food as well. So pretty smart social creatures actually.

Alright, so that's another fun animal fact for you guys. The moral of the story is don't anger the crows, otherwise they're going to take revenge on you ten years later, right? Just kidding.

Really, the story is like they're actually very, very smart creatures. Alright, so join us next time when we're going to be talking about our quilling, when animals get porcupine quills on them. And as always, please keep your pets [00:17:00] happy, healthy, and safe. Happy Halloween!

Dr. Sugerman: Thank you guys for listening this week. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or you just want to say hi, you can email me at Suggs, S U G G S @ VetsplanationPodcast.com or visit the website at VetsplanationPodcast.com or find us on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok at Vetsplanation. Thank you all for listening and I'll see you back here next week.

Tyler Sugerman-McGiffin
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