Over the festive season our pets can find their home filled with intriguing decorations, unfamiliar food and noisy houseguests. Although we may enjoy this festive fun, the extra hustle and bustle can be stressful and possibly even hazardous for our four-legged friends.
Visitors
Pets can sometimes be overexcited, confused or anxious by the amount of holiday guests visiting their home over Christmas. To minimise stress make a quiet, cosy ‘den’ for your pet in advance – a quiet room is ideal for dogs, while cats feel safest when they’re higher up. Give them healthy treats or praise when they are relaxed in their den so they learn to view it as a calm place to be, and don’t allow visitors or children to disturb your pets if they have taken themselves away to a quiet area.
Decorations
Christmas trees can make a tempting climbing frame for cats, but sadly vets see many injuries due to falls and toppled trees. Decorations such as tinsel, baubles and ribbon can seem like fun toys, but can quickly become choking hazards or cause blockages in the gut if accidentally swallowed. You should supervise your pet in rooms containing trees and decorations and keep doors closed when you’re not around.
Christmas Food
Big Christmas dinners, rich puddings, biscuits and sweets are best kept as treats for ourselves. Rich food and table scraps can cause an upset tummy for our pets and many Christmas treats (such as chocolate and mince pies to name a few) are actually poisonous to our pets. Stick to your pet’s normal diet over the festive period, even if they are looking at you with big round eyes!
Presents
We all like to spoil our pets at Christmas with a present or two, and toys that make an unusual sound or have an unfamiliar texture – as long as they are safe and don’t scare the pet – can provide excellent mental stimulation. Don’t forget about smaller pets either – rats, rabbits and hamsters all have different needs. For example, ferrets enjoy playing with toys that you change frequently and a fabric ferret tunnel can provide all sorts of fun. Rabbits need plenty of exercise and if your rabbit lives indoors, they might like to demolish that cardboard box you were thinking of recycling! Mice and rats like to explore mazes so think about how you could create one using safe materials like ink- and glue-free cardboard. Remember that pets like these can have a short attention span, so you need to provide different things that you change frequently to keep them amused and entertained.
In association with PDSA Petsurance. pdsa.org.uk/petinsurance 0800 980 6000