Don’t Let Your Pets Fall Under a Spooky Spell
With Halloween approaching, households across the country are planning costumes, stocking up on candy and decking their homes with cobwebs, ghosts and Jack-o'-lanterns. While the holiday is fun for kids and adults, it can bring real risks for pets. From constant doorbell rings to tempting chocolate stashes, October 31 can turn into a real scare for dogs and cats.
To help make Halloween safe and stress-free for pet owners, Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters and take the country no-kill*, is sharing tips to keep furry friends protected this spooky season:
Beware of Door Dashers: Trick-or-treat traffic can frighten pets and send them bolting for the door. To avoid accidental escapes, keep dogs and cats in a quiet, secure room during peak trick or treat hours. If your pet does get out, a Fi smart GPS collar can help bring them home safely.
Candy Catastrophe: Popular Halloween sweets like chocolate, raisins, and xylitol (a common artificial sweetener) are all toxic to pets. Keep the candy cauldron out of reach and serve up pet-safe treats like pumpkin or sweet potato.
Pumpkin Precautions: Lit pumpkins may help set the mood, but a curious paw can turn them into a fire hazard, go with a flameless candle for a safe spooky glow instead.
Costume Caution: A too-tight or dangly costume can be a real nightmare. If your pet isn’t a fan of dress up, opt for a festive bandana or collar instead.
No tricks, just the sweetest treat: adopt a pet in need. According to Best Friends’ data, if just 6% more people adding a pet to their home chose to adopt instead of purchase a pet from a pet store or breeder, the country could become no-kill. Now that’s a magic spell worth casting!
To find adoptable pets near you, or learn more about how you can help, visit bestfriends.org
*No-kill is defined by a 90% save rate for animals entering a shelter and is a meaningful and common-sense benchmark for measuring lifesaving progress. Typically, the number of pets who are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed is not more than 10% of all dogs and cats entering shelters. For any community to be no-kill, all stakeholders in that community must work together to achieve and sustain that common goal while prioritizing community safety and good quality of life for pets as guiding no-kill principles. This means cooperation among animal shelters, animal rescue groups, government agencies, community members and other stakeholders, all committed to best practices and protocols.