It was a busy time for the staff at Pride Veterinary Centre & our practices over Christmas, where unfortunately a lot of our furry friends helped themselves to things that they should not have done over the festive period.
We break down their exploits in this infographic. You can read the full summary below.
During the month of December we treated 61 cases in total where our patients had ingested potentially toxic or harmful things that required either hospitalisation or medical treatment. This is about three times the number of cases that we would normally see in a month, and occurred in a wide variety of breeds and ages of dogs and a few cats. Four of these dogs required surgery for the removal of foreign bodies.
What Items Did Pets Typical Ingest?
Top of the list was undoubtably mince pies / Christmas cake or other foods containing raisins that have the risk of causing kidney failure. Although we saw an increase in cases over December all of the things that were ingested are available all year round:
- Raisin products – 19
- Chocolate – 11
- Socks / shoe insoles – 6
- Human medication – 5
- Onions/Garlic – 4
- Lilies (cats) – 3
- Fabric toys (not needing surgery) – 3
- Stick Injuries – 2
- String / Hair round tongue – 2
- Slime – 1
- Chewing gum – 1
- Rubber end form cooking tongs – 1
- Soap pod – 1
- Chicken carcass – 1
- Raided bin – 1
How Were Pets Treated?
In a lot of these cases the dogs were left feeling very sorry for themselves, as part of the treatment involved them having an injection to make them sick to minimise the risk of absorption of the toxins or to prevent the socks, toys etc. causing potential intestinal blockages as they pass though. Some were then able to go home usually with charcoal to add to their food, again to prevent absorption of toxins – this can be a messy process.
Unfortunately these misdemeanours lead to some of our patients having to spend some of the festive period in our hospital, not only missing time with their families but giving their owners the worry whether there would be any long term complications.
Meet The Inmates Of Raisin Row
An area of our kennels was fondly re-named ‘Raisin Row’ where on boxing day we had four dogs hospitalised on drips due to having eaten mince pies or other things containing raisins.
Keep An Eye On What Your Pets Ingest Year Round
As a practice we want to issue a warning to pet owners not only during the holiday periods (e.g. Christmas, Easter) but all year round to keep potentially harmful things away from your pets.
If you do think they have eaten something that they should not have done please contact us for advice.
Luckily due to the prompt action of these pet owners, the dogs and cats we treated throughout December all made a full recovery and had no lasting effects of their Christmas exploits.
