HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Easter is a time where candy and all things spring are everywhere, more specifically chocolates and lilies. Unfortunately, these things that are so sweet and pretty to us are toxic to our pets.
It's important to play it safe when celebrating Easter with your animals around.
"It seems like with every holiday there's dangers for pets and I'll tell you, one of the big ones of course is chocolate," said Huntsville Animal Services Director Dr. Karen Sheppard.
Chocolate and pets have never been a good mix, so it's important to keep a close eye on your Easter basket if you have pets at home.
"So, of course, you wanna make sure that all the chocolate is kept well out of their reach cause some of these larger dogs they can jump up on the counter and do some counter surfing and figure out a way to pull the basket over, so just really use a lot of caution," said Sheppard.
This toxicity goes beyond chocolate as well - keeping all candy out of your pet's reach is crucial.
"More and more sugar-free chocolate now has a sugar additive called xylitol and it is highly toxic to dogs. In both of those cases, you're gonna see vomiting and diarrhea, shaking, panting, elevated heart rate," said Sheppard.
Be sure to also keep an eye on the food on your holiday plate when you have pets around.
"I mean we love to eat, don't we? And so a lot of the things that we put on our table for Easter are delicious to us and our bodies are used to it and can handle it but a lot of that high-fat, high-calorie is really dangerous for dogs," said Sheppard.
Maybe you're more of a cat person... Well, there is one thing you must keep away from your cats.
"The big thing with cats would be the lilies. Cats, I don't know why, it's really hard to poison a cat but cats will sit there and chew on a lily and dogs might do it too, especially a puppy, and it causes issues with their kidneys, and unfortunately, that by far is the most toxic one and has irreversible damage and so gosh, just be super careful with any of the lilies," said Sheppard.
Sheppard also mentioned, if people are coming in and out it's a good idea to make sure your pets don't slip out and also how important it is to have a tag and microchip for them especially during the holidays.