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Holiday Safety Tips from Veterinary Healing Center Folsom & El Dorado Hills [sponsored post]

Dec 15, 2015 09:55AM ● By David Norby

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The holidays are a festive time for us all. Taking precautions with pets during the holiday season can ensure their health and happiness!

Veterinary Healing Center Folsom - Folsom, CA

Tinsel/Ornaments

Tinsel is very attractive to cats in particular. Once consumed, the shiny decoration can cause serious problems.  This foreign material could be fatal as it twists inside your pet’s intestines. Immediate veterinary care is required.  Bright and colorful tree ornaments can be chewed up and swallowed by your pet, creating broken pieces that may lacerate your pet’s mouth, throat, and intestines, or even cause a choking hazard. 

Holiday Plants

They are beautiful, but some holiday plants are poisonous—even deadly. As little as one leaf from any lily is lethal to cats. Pine needles and poinsettias can produce oral irritation and gastrointestinal upset.  Holly induces intense vomiting and diarrhea; Mistletoe can too, as well as difficulty breathing, collapse, hallucinations, and death when ingested. 

Holiday Lights/Candles

Twinkling, dangling lighting is another source of danger to your pets.  Electrical shock may occur when a pet chomps down on an electrical cord, causing tongue lacerations and possible death. Place candles in a hard-to-reach spot so that your pets can not burn themselves or create a fire hazard.  

Gift Wrap Ribbon

Ribbons and bows wrapped on holiday gifts can cause a choking hazard and ultimately twist throughout the intestines, leading to emergency surgery and even death.

Holiday Treats

Some of the most popular holiday foods can be extremely toxic to pets.  All of these foods will minimally cause vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy; most cause more severe symptoms.  The ingredients in chocolate can induce tremoring, heart arrhythmias, and seizure.  Meat scraps can cause pancreatitis, and the bones can splinter and cause lacerations or choking hazards.  Nuts can cause throat and intestinal obstructions as well as seizures, tremoring, and loss of muscle control.

Taking preventive measures to protect your pets this holiday season could save you a trip to the veterinary ER, and keep your pets healthy!


For more information on this subject or to find out more about pet dental health, contact

Veterinary Healing Center Folsom - Folsom CA

Veterinary Healing Center Folsom - Folsom, CA

At Veterinary Healing Center of Folsom, we want to change the way animal health care is delivered. Our focus is on treating each animal as an individual, and aiming for complete wellness ... Read More » 

   Post information by Veterinary Healing Centers, Brad Cahoon, D.V.M.