Hazards To Avoid This Thanksgiving With Your Dogs – Bully Breed

I’ve been seeing this topic blasted all over my email lately. What hazards to avoid this Thanksgiving with your dogs, well, my Bully Breed specifically. Let’s face it, my little Chihuahua’s can’t get close to the dinner I have planned. The tallest they are is my ankles. I don’t exactly worry about them.

As for Atlas though, there are a lot of Thanksgiving hazards she can get in to. First off, in Alaska, it’s cold as the dickens. Meaning, if I’m planning on taking my dog to a house, I need to be aware. I need to keep a wary eye open for any chemicals that might be exposed. Secondly, the food that’s being prepared. If I don’t know what’s in it, then it’s no good for Atlas.

Let’s start with the chemicals. Why chemicals?

Dangerous Chemicals to Animals.

When I take my dogs to other’s people’s houses, I have to be cautious. Some of my friends have had mice before in their garages. I had my dog with me once, and I noticed she was scratching at a corner in a friends garage. When I walked over to see what she was getting into, it was mouse poison. Immediately snatching it from her mouth, she thankfully didn’t eat any.

Some garages will also have chemicals spilled on the garage floor. Antifreeze for example is a very dangerous chemical. Dog’s should never ingest antifreeze.

Oil spills or other chemicals might also be present in garages. Keeping an eye open for these types of hazards is a must during the cold weather. If you live in a warm climate and don’t have a garage, read on for more hazards.

Thanksgiving Food Can Be Hazardous For Dogs.

If you haven’t read some of my previous articles, they are beneficial. There are a lot of foods that dogs shouldn’t ingest. One of the main ingredients that people use to cook is Onion Powder. Onions cause anemia in dogs, even over time. Onions are the one food that you can’t cook the dangerous toxin out of. So, raw form, powdered, boiled, fried. Any and all of these are toxic to dogs.

Garlic is another food that dogs shouldn’t ingest. Now, there was some controversy surrounding garlic. Some people feed garlic to their dogs on purpose and say their dogs are fine. However, according to my vet, she says, “No.” So, I chalk it up to – Garlic is bad.

What other foods can be dangerous?

More Hazardous Thanksgiving Foods.

Stuffing. I can’t express this enough. Stuffing. I’ve seen every kind of stuffing you can imagine. Some with sausage and turkey bits. I’ve had stuffing with raisins and grapes in it. Alarm blares! Raisins and grapes are extremely toxic to dogs. Dogs should not eat grapes or raisins. Not one.

Loads of stuffing has garlic and onions in it as well. My Mom makes stuffing with a lot of garlic. There’s also an entire onion in it as well. Atlas can not eat it!

I’ve seen a lot of vets stating to stay away from the fat drippings as well. Or butter. Take your pick. There’re claims that too much fat or butter can lead to pancreas issues. I get it in the long run, being not good for them. I will say, I give Atlas bacon grease or other drippings very sporadically. One reason it’s so sporadic – she gets an upset stomach with too much. Second – she really doesn’t like a lot of grease and she snubs her nose at it. She’s very picky.

I do imagine a little dripping isn’t detrimental to their health. But if your dog gets into a little, don’t panic.  But be aware of what they’re getting into.  What other hazards should you avoid this Thanksgiving with your dogs?

Kids Feeding Thanksgiving Foods To The Dog.

Another big hazard for dogs would be, are there kids around? My kids love to give the dog food. Foods even that they know she shouldn’t have. I often have to stop them from dropping things, or purposely trying to give her food.

True story – my kids decided one day that it would be fun to throw grapes at each other. The day before I had just read about how toxic grapes are to dogs.  As little as one grape can do some damage to a dog. I walked into this fight with pure anger. Not understanding why they were throwing grapes, I made them pick them all up. Atlas of course was trying to run to eat them, but I grabbed her up instead.

I went so far as to make my kids move the couch and ensure not a single grape was found. Grapes can shut down dog’s kidney’s, even as little as one grape. Raisins are the same.

Be aware of any stuffing being fed to the dog, especially if you didn’t cook it and know exactly what’s in there. It’s very important to be aware of what’s being given to your pets.  There are other hazards to avoid this Thanksgiving with your dogs.  Last hazard, decorations.

Decorations During The Holidays.

The last thing on my list are the decorations. If your dog is a chewer, then you should already know the hazards walking into it. Watch out for tassel they might eat. Even some garland, depending on what it’s made out of.  If going to another house, bring a toy along to help them with chewing.  

Cats are the ones to really watch out for in certain instances. Now I know, not many people take their cat’s with them to dinners. However, if you do, be wary of Poinsettia. Very toxic to cat’s and very dangerous. Lilies are another plant very dangerous for cat’s. If your cat ingests any part of the lily, within 18 hours they can have complete kidney failure.

Plants are the main concern for cat owners. Especially since cat’s can jump up on counters or tables. Being aware of this during dinner is very important.

If you’re hosting dinner, be aware if your cat’s like to jump on counters, too. What a tragedy it would be to have your cat jump up on a counter and start eating the food. Ew. I have some relatives that are slightly allergic to cat’s, so them jumping up on surfaces can trigger symptoms. The cat’s fur and dander will fall near the food, possibly contaminating the food.

Keep a watchful eye out for hazards to avoid this Thanksgiving with your dogs and cat’s! My Bully breed will be sniffing like crazy this Thursday, trying mind control on the mighty morsels. Into her mouth.

What hazards can you think of that I missed? Name them off for others!