Fall Tips For Our Furry Family
As the hot summer days turn into crisp autumn air we love watching our furry patients enjoy the crunching leaves and first snowfalls. However, the shift from summer into fall brings a unique set of seasonal hazards that every pet owner should watch out for.
To keep your companions safe, healthy, and cozy over the coming months, here are the top seasonal issues to look out for:
🦃 1. Holiday Food Hazards
The fall and winter seasons are packed with food-centric holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas. While it is tempting to share the feast, several common festive foods are highly dangerous to pets:
Chocolate & Halloween Candy: Chocolate contains theobromine, which is highly toxic to dogs and cats and can cause vomiting, a racing heart rate, seizures, and even death. Additionally, sugar-free candies and gums often contain xylitol (birch sugar), a sweetener that triggers a life-threatening drop in blood sugar and liver failure.
Turkey & Cooked Bones: Never feed your pet cooked poultry bones. Cooked bones become brittle and easily splinter, which can pierce your pet's stomach or intestines, causing a life-threatening internal infection.
High-Fat Ham & Table Scraps: Rich, fatty foods like ham, turkey skin, gravy, and buttery sides can trigger a severe, incredibly painful condition called pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas). This often requires emergency veterinary hospitalization.
🚨 2. Hidden Fall & Winter Poisons
Antifreeze Alert: Many people winterize their cars during late fall. Antifreeze has a sweet taste that dogs and cats love, but even a tiny lick can cause fatal acute kidney injury. Always clean up garage spills immediately and switch to less toxic propylene glycol-based coolants.
Rodenticides: As temperatures drop, mice and rats try to seek shelter indoors. Be extremely careful when using mouse and rat poisons; they are highly toxic and frequently fatal if ingested by dogs or cats.
Cold & Flu Medications: Winter is peak human cold season, or as I like to call it, "sugar season". Our natural immune system defenses are crashed leaving us vulnerable to illnesses. Keep all over-the-counter medications like acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and antihistamines completely out of paw's reach.
Kitty Colds: The stress of weather changes, holiday planning, guests and travel can trigger a cold in our purring pals. At the first signs of a relapse, please schedule an appointment so we can make recommedations for immune support and hopefully decrease the severity and duration of an outbreak.
🍂 3. Environmental and Wildlife Hazards
Autumn Mushrooms & Plants: Damp autumn leaf piles are breeding grounds for wild mushrooms. While some are harmless, others cause severe liver or neurological damage. Keep a close eye on your dog during walks, and keep seasonal plants like Autumn Crocus and Chrysanthemums (Mums) away from pets.
Warm Engines: Outdoor and stray cats frequently climb into car wheel wells or up next to warm engines to escape the winter chill. Always knock loudly on your car hood before starting your ignition to save a life!
🐾 4. Paw, Skin, and Coat Irritation
Dry Skin & Coat Matting: Dropping humidity combined with indoor central heating dries out your pet's skin, leading to dandruff and intense itching. Additionally, winter coats trap moisture from rain and snow, which can cause painful mats and bacterial skin infections if not brushed out regularly.
Fish Oil: A high quality, mercury-free omega 3 fatty acid product is often the first line of defense against dry skin. See our Fullscript store front for suggestions. us.fullscript.com/s/ssur/shop.
🦴 5. Joint Pain and Arthritis Flares
Cold-Weather Stiffness: Dropping temperatures cause joint fluid to thicken, drastically worsening arthritis and age-related aches in senior pets. If you notice your dog or cat hesitating to climb stairs, limping, or moving slowly when waking up, please give us a call. We can recommend a vet-approved joint supplement, herbs, therapeutic laser or acupuncture to restore their comfort and mobility.
Traveling with Your Pet This Holiday Season?
The holidays are a popular time for family visits and vacations. If your pet will be traveling by air or crossing state or international borders, be sure to plan ahead. Many airlines, states, and countries require health certificates, proof of vaccinations, parasite treatments, microchips, or other documentation before travel.
Some destinations have simple requirements, while others—particularly Hawaii and many international destinations—may require weeks or even months of preparation. Waiting until the last minute can result in travel delays or denied entry for your pet.
At Four Paws Wellness Center, we offer domestic and international health certificates and can help guide you through the requirements for your destination. If you're planning to travel with your pet, contact us as early as possible so we can ensure all requirements are completed on time and your trip goes smoothly.
We offer in house titer testing for Distemper, Parvo and Adenovirus (Hepatitis) vaccines for dogs as well as Panleukopenia, Herpes and Calicivurs vaccines for cats. We can get answers quickly to determine if your pet needs a booster or has protective anitbody levels already. The blood test also covers the cost of a booster, if it is needed. Boarding facilities and airlines will take a titer test result in leu of a booster vaccine, avoiding over vaccinating our furry family members. See our website blog post for more details about titer testing.
Managing Travel or Boarding Anxiety: Plan Ahead!
Fortunately, both natural and pharmaceutical options can help keep your dog or cat calm.
Pharmaceutical Options: Prescriptions like trazodone and gabapentin can safely block the fear response.
Natural Remedies: Pheromone diffusers, calming supplements, and melatonin can offer gentler support for mild anxiety.
Order Early: Please request these options from us well in advance. Our clinic gets exceptionally busy right before holidays, and medications take time to approve and fill and may need to be shipped to your home.
Test Runs: Getting your prescription early allows you to do a trial dose at home, ensuring it works perfectly before the noise begins.