No leftovers and steer clear of tinsel: South West vets share tips on how to keep pets safe this Christmas

Steering clear of leftovers and monitoring tinsel in the house are just some of the tips South West vets have to help people prevent hefty vet bills over Christmas. Bunbury vet Braden Collins said there were several ways to keep pets healthy over Christmas, starting with an outright ban on feeding pets Christmas leftovers. “As a general rule, I am not a huge fan of feeding leftovers to pets because the downsides are potentially quite high,” he said. “If you’re going to give them anything, a tiny bit of turkey or something very low fat. Beyond that I’d say it’s not worth the risk. “Certainly avoid all garlic and onion — they’re quite toxic to dogs.” Dr Collins said each year dozens of pets visited his clinic over the festive season with illnesses relating to eating leftovers, especially ham bones which can cause pancreatitis. “We see a lot of dogs getting quite unwell after eating ham bones; they get a condition called pancreatitis where the fat of the bone triggers inflammation in the pancreas,” he said. “It’s very predictable — about December 28 we start seeing those cases come in. I can’t think of a year I haven’t seen at least one.” As far as cats go, Dr Collins said the most common hazard was playing with and eating decorations such as tinsel. “While they’re playing with tinsel, they’ll accidentally swallow some and once it gets in their intestines it can sort of bunch up around it,” he said. “That becomes quite a major surgery to correct. “We do occasionally see dogs playing with or swallowing ornaments, but the more common thing that we see with dogs is they knock over ceramic ornaments, break them and then tread on them. We end up stitching a few paws up.” Dr Collins also recommended keeping cats in a separate room if guests were arriving, as new visitors could spike feline anxiety levels.