Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Today, many of us have lots of delicious leftovers to eat. Don’t feed the leftovers to your pets! People food can make pets really sick. VPI has a list of holiday-related medical conditions that you definitely don’t want your pet to suffer with!
It can be very tempting to feed your dog or cat some leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner. Many pets will beg for food every time your family eat dinner, (even when it isn’t Thanksgiving). Some pet owners do give in and will toss their dog or cat some people food to eat. Got more leftovers than you know what to do with? The temptation to share them with your dog or cat grows.
Unfortunately, people food can cause pets to become severely ill. VPI is a company that sells pet insurance policies. They have a blog filled with tons of helpful information for pet owners.
They have a blog post about the most common holiday related medical conditions for pets. You might be surprised how many of them are caused when a pet eats people food!
VPI analyzed data from more than 485,000 insured pets to find out the most common pet medical conditions associated with the holidays. At the top of the list are two familiar ones: gastritis (which means vomiting), and enteritis (which means diarrhea).
In 2011, VPI had 267,915 pet insurance claims. A total of 24,262 of them were processed between November and January (the months that are a part of the holiday season). Out of those claims, 17,421 were associated with vomiting and diarrhea. The most frequent cause was from ingesting people food.
Keep this in mind. Yes, your pet will probably enjoy eating some leftovers. Your dog or cat lacks the ability to understand that people food can make him really sick later on that night. Pet owners need to be responsible and prevent their pets from easily avoided harm.
There are other health problems that can happen to a pet that eats people food. In addition to gastritis and enteritis, your pet could suffer from colitis (which is loose or bloody stool).
Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that can be caused by eating fatty people food (like gravy or roasts). People food can cause some pets to experience hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, (which is bloody vomiting and diarrhea). All of this can be avoided if you don’t give your pets leftovers from Thanksgiving.
Image by Thomas Lillis IV on Flickr