Pet Owners Warned About Christmas Food for Pets

Pet Owners Must Remember that Christmas Dinner could be Dangerous if Pets Get Too Much

With Christmas upon us the topics that will be on most people’s minds will relate to buying and receiving gifts for or from loved ones, preparing the Christmas dinner and making travel arrangements. But what about our pets? What should we be doing to ensure that our pets remain safe during the festive period so that we are not left with a hefty veterinary bill (or the necessity of making a claim on pet insurance) at the end of the season?

A new press release from The Co-Operative Pet Insurance has been doing the rounds and in it the insurance provider warns pet owners of the dangers of letting pets overindulge in the Christmas food that we take for granted. So whilst we will enjoy Turkey and stuffing, we need to make sure that our pets do not eat too much of it and be overburdened with the high calories this would entail. As such they are warning that dogs should be fed proper dog food instead of leftovers and they should not be given snacks like chocolate either.

The press release also details results of a study into the habits of pet owners over the festive period and they have discovered that there are still a large number of pet owners providing such snacks to their pet. In fact it found that 37% of pet owners will allow their pets to eat leftovers and these could range from the likes of turkey and roast potatoes to prawns or cocktail sausages.

“Feeding [pets] a full Christmas dinner is probably not advised” said Lee Mooney, the Head of Pet Insurance at the Co-Operative Insurance. “Pets have very different dietary and nutritional requirements to humans.”

He also specifically refers to the dangers of feeding dogs chocolate; pointing out that it can “prove fatal to dogs”.

So unless pet owners wish to spend Christmas making claims on their pet insurance and making unplanned trips to the vet, they may wish to listen to the advice at hand and ensure their pets have a healthy festive season.