Holiday Fun (and Safety) With Our Pets

For many, this time of year is full of hustle and bustle, finishing up at work, spending weekends with family and friends, planning an extravagant feast (or two!) and there’s always the last minute gift shopping. For some reason this side of winter, the one that comes before December 31st, seems to have so much cheer. It makes the cold and the snow that much more bearable. Have you noticed, our animals also tend to get a bit more cuddly in the winter? Cats are more prone to curling up in our lap while we’re relaxing, dogs may try to sleep in a bit longer when they can. Or maybe you have a Husky or other Nordic breed and this is their best time of year!

This time of year we naturally tend to gravitate towards more social settings; not everyone enjoys being outside and the lack of natural sunlight can be a bit gloomy. One of the best ways to counteract this is to get together with others, indulge in yummy foods and decorate our spaces with lots of lights and sparkles. Our animals don’t understand holidays, or why there may be a sudden change in weekend activities but that doesn’t mean that we can’t involve them in the festivities! What we do need to remember as the caretakers of our furry friends, is that they do not always have the same threshold for large groups of people that we do. They also don’t understand the health risks that come with chewing on all the shiny new “toys” decorating the house, or when to stop overeating those rich tasting foods. It’s our job to keep an eye on our animals' mental and physical health so that they can enjoy this time of year with us. 

If your household is the type to give gifts during the holidays, you don’t have to exclude your pets but you do have to watch what you wrap these gifts in! New plush toys, stockings with individually wrapped chews, catnip toys, toys that squeak, rustle or jiggle all add to our animals excitement during the holidays and it’s fun to wrap these items up because, let's be honest, our animals love tearing up paper almost as much as they love getting to the item inside the paper! However, we don’t recommend using brightly colored, sparkly wrapping paper. The paper we are used to seeing in stores for our own gift wrapping can be tinted with harmful dyes, coated in microplastic glitter and because our animals use their mouths for 90% of opening their gifts, you are better off using repurposed brown paper bags from the grocery store. You can still dress these up with cute ribbons to keep with an esthetic, just make sure you remove any ribbons before giving the gifts to your animals to open, especially cats, who may chew off and swallow harmful pieces. The bonus of using brown paper bags is that you can purchase catnip spray and spritz the outside of the bag to further entice your cat (or even dog!) to tear into it. Another fun way to wrap small, loose treats is to tuck them into toilet paper or paper towel rolls. We have a reel to our instagram account showing you how we did this.

If gift giving isn’t your thing, there are still fun activities you can involve your pets in. One of the most popular things to do in the month of December in Edmonton is to take a stroll down Candy Cane Lane. Bundling up and taking a warm drink to go for a walk and look at all the lights is always a great way to spend an evening. We know that our dogs are better adapted to dealing with the cold than we are; they're covered in fur coats! But not all fur is made equally and not all dogs are as protected from the elements. And even the thickest double coated dog can still get cold feet, and little chunks of ice built up between their toes. It’s always a good idea to consider outfitting your pup with a set of boots and maybe a winter jacket, depending on how thick his coat is. We know that some dogs can be uncomfortable wearing apparel, which is why it's a good idea to start when your animal is young, if you can. Trying items on in the comfort of the house and being patient with you pup as he adapts to the new weight on his feet while he wears boots the first few times can really save you some frustrations later on. It can be quite hard to dig those little chunks of ice out mid-walk! 

We have included a couple of recipes that you can make for your pets this holiday season so that they can enjoy a tasty warm treat as well. While both recipes mention to be refrigerated for storage, both can be gently warmed up to be fed to our pets. Test the temperature by placing a small droplet on the inside of your wrist; if the heat stings a bit, cool it down a bit before feeding to your cat or dog. While it is recommended to stick with a well rounded and balanced diet day to day, there are foods that are perfectly safe to be fed to our pets during the holiday feasting, in small portions as treats. Lean cuts of mildly seasoned meat, steamed vegetables with no fats added, the last of the canned pumpkin that the Pumpkin Pie recipe didn’t need. These foods will not overload an animal's system with unnecessary carbohydrates or grease, and if fed in small amounts, will not lead to digest upset. As a safety precaution, I have to state, never feed your animals cooked bones. These can splinter and cause damage to the trachea, stomach and intestines. If you are ever interested in feeding bones to your animals for dental health, always feed raw and always feed the appropriate size for your animal. We can help you discover the best options in store, we all deserve holiday fun and safety with our pets!

The holidays are always a whirlwind and they are often gone as quickly as they come. We hope that everyone has an enjoyable season and that you are able to spoil your loved ones and your pets with the thing they truly want most; time with you.