NO SCAREDY CATS (OR DOGS!) THIS HALLOWEEN: TOP 10 SAFETY TIPS
Happy Halloween, pet parents! As October 31 approaches, the ASPCA would like to offer some common-sense cautions that’ll keep your pets safe and stress-free this time of year:- No tricks, no treats: That bowlful of candy is for trick-or-treaters, not for Scruffy and Fluffy. Chocolate in all forms can be very dangerous for dogs and cats, and tin foil and cellophane candy wrappers can be hazardous if swallowed.
- Dress-up can be a big mess-up for some pets. Please don’t put your dog or cat in costume unless you know he or she loves it (yup, some pets are real hams!). For companion animals who prefer wearing their “birthday suits,” however, wearing a costume can cause undue stress.
- If you do dress up your pet, make sure the costume isn’t annoying or unsafe. It should not restrict the animal’s movement or hearing, or impede his ability to breathe or bark. Keep a lookout for small, dangling or easily chewed-off pieces on the costume that your pet could choke on.
- Popular Halloween plants such as pumpkins and decorative corn are considered to be relatively nontoxic, yet they can produce gastrointestinal upset should pets ingest them. Intestinal blockage could even occur if large pieces are consumed.
For our complete list of Halloween safety tips, visit ASPCA.org. And please remember, if you suspect that your pet has ingested a potentially dangerous substance—around Halloween or any time of year—please call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435.
ASPCA SUCCESS STORY OF THE WEEK: LAUGHING MATTERS
Alyssa Shutler wasn’t planning on falling in love the afternoon she saw a strange shape in the middle of a busy street in Norman, OK. But when the shape moved and stood up, she realized it was a puppy. “As the light turned green, my mind started racing,” Alyssa recalls. “How was I going to get him out of the road?”The scared puppy scampered off into a yard, and with the help of a resident who knew the stray, Alyssa was able to coax him into the back of her car. “As I rushed him to the vet,” she remembers, “he crawled from the back seat into my lap and just looked up at me. He was so small!”
Once at home, while Alyssa decided what to do, the pup followed her everywhere she went. Just as she walked out of her bedroom, she was greeted by his small, expectant face. “There he was, looking up at me,” Alyssa says. “I couldn’t fight it anymore. I was in love.”
Alyssa assures us that Rocky—who has just turned seven and still considers all 100 pounds of himself a puppy—is proof that animals have a sense of humor. “He cannonballs into our plastic kiddie pool, which is now bent, and blows bubbles under the water!” Alyssa laughs. “And he wrestles with himself on my bed. I'll come into the bedroom to find my sheets and pillows on the floor, and he'll just stare up at me with a 'What?’ face. And he still hasn't grasped how to catch a Frisbee! He jumps up as soon as it leaves my hand, then loses track of it.”
Rocky apparently has hold of not only his mom’s funny bone, but of her heart. “I’m laughing all the time,” she says, “and falling in love with him over and over again.”
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