The Holidays and Stress

We get stressed during the holiday season for various reasons: a.) there's not enough time to get everything done that we need to get done b.) family or c.) family. Maybe that's just me. But, our pets experience stress during the holidays too, just for a whole different set of reasons. Here's a few things that maybe you hadn't thought of and if you think about it ahead of time, it will save you and your pet a lot of anxiety.

Everyone I know with children says that kids make the holidays. Everything's new and exciting and it rubs off on the adults. That's great, but a gaggle of screaming kids running back and forth because they're hopped up on cookies and candy, can make the pets a little anxious. Strangers in the house, or even just a large number of people regardless of whether your pets have met them before, can be stressful. If there's an area of the house or if your dog has a crate that they feel safe in, use it. Leave a TV or radio on for them. Homeopet makes a great line of herbal remedies that might be useful in these situations.

Supervision is important if your pet is out and about. Multiple people coming in and out of the house can cause issues if your dog or cat is a runner. The trash can also be a huge temptation for a lot of animals so make sure that's out of reach. I can speak for myself in that even though you've asked people not to give your pets table scraps, they still do it. Why not? They don't have to deal with my dogs brauling over crumbs, or when they vomit, or even better, have diarrhea in the corner. There are a number of foods that are bad for animals starting with the biggie, chocolate. Chocolate ingestion can be fatal. It takes different amounts of different kinds of chocolate, so just avoid it all together. Raw dough, walnuts, onions/garlic, bones, fatty foods, alcohol and foods made with xylitol are a few other things to never give to animals. If your pet ingests any of these things call your local ER facility to see if they need to be seen. (MedVet @ 846-5800 or OSU @ 292-3551) Not a great way to spend a holiday, so just avoid giving human food to the pets all together.

I have dogs that require a fair amount of physical and mental activity or they let me know they're bored. If I know there's going to be something going on that could potentially freak them out, I'll make sure they've had plenty of exercise that day. Dog parks are popping up around Columbus and some daycares offer holiday drop off and pick up.

Animals are creatures of habit. Try to keep everything as routine as possible. With so much to do on and around the holidays, don't forget to spend quality time with your pets. It's important for them and it'll relax you too.