Here is part 2 of our guide on safety tips to keep your dog safe during Halloween
Table of Contents
In the previous article, we discussed some important pet safety tips to keep your dog out of harm’s way during Halloween. Let us continue exploring some more tips along the same lines.
Don’t Flash Glow Sticks Infront of Your Pets
- Glow sticks are commonly used on Halloween for decoration and for brightening dark venues. Their colorful and limited luminescence adds a spooky touch to Halloween decorations. However, they are a safety hazard for pet animals. The glow contains multiple chemicals that may not necessarily be toxic in nature but tastes really bad. So if your dog chews on a glow stick and they ingest the chemicals, it can cause a lot of agitation, nausea, and vomiting. If your dog does ingest a glow stick, give him plain water in small doses to help clear the mouth.
Keep Fire-Causing Halloween Decorations Away From Your Pets
- Most people use candles to light their jack-o-lanterns and other Halloween decorations. While candles give an ethereal and eerie look to Halloween decorations, they pose a safety risk for the pet as well as the owner. Keep the candles away from your dog, lest they try to catch them and burn themselves.
Keep Pets Away From Other Dangerous Decorations As Well
- All Halloween decorations present some kind of risk to pets. For e.g. dogs might be tempted to chew on electric and battery-powered Halloween decorations or may get entangled in electric chords. By attempting to swallow small parts of the decoration, pets can choke as well. Along with that, they can get chemical burns from batteries and electrical shocks from electric decorations. They can cut themselves on small pieces of glass. Hence, it is recommended to keep dangerous pet decorations out of their reach.
Be Mindful of The Pet Costume
Some people enjoy dressing their pets in different costumes. Be mindful of the following if you are choosing a costume for your pet:
- The costume should be comfortable and not cause irritation
- It should not restrict movement or the ability to breathe
Get Your Pet Accustomed to The Costume
If you have decided to dress your pet in a costume, we recommend you familiarize your pet with the costume first and don’t wait for Halloween to try out the costume on your pet. Buy your pet’s costume early on and try it on them step by step a few days before Halloween. Appreciate, praise, and motivate your pet every time he wears the costume so he will feel comfortable wearing it again and again. By doing so, you ensure that Halloween night will go without any hiccups.
Place Some IDs on them
- The hustle and bustle of Halloween present the perfect opportunity for pets to lose their way and wander away from home. If your pet loses its way home, proper identification will ensure that your pet will be returned home safely. Collar and tags can help track lost pets. However, the best method for pet identification is getting them personalized microchip collars. With the help of microchip collars, you can track your pet’s location and can rescue them immediately. Make sure that the collars and tags have updated phone numbers and addresses.
Following the above-mentioned tips will keep your dog out of harm’s way. In case of any medical emergency, take your dog to a vet on an urgent basis. Autumn Trails and Veterinary Center provides urgent care services to deal with all medical emergencies. Call us at 434-971-9800. We are located in Charlottesville, VA.
