PETS Info Blog

The holidays are a time to gather with family and friends and celebrate. But did you know the holidays pose a number of threats to your pets? As you enjoy the holiday season this year, keep your pets safe by following these simple guidelines.

Decorations and Your Pets
Holiday decorations can be especially hazardous to pets. Dogs and cats are both allergic to holly, mistletoe, poinsettia and lilies, so make sure to keep these plants well out of reach of pets. Tinsel, ribbons and wrapping paper are shiny, attractive toys to cats, but can cause serious intestinal blockages if ingested.

Lighted candles and menorahs can be easily knocked over by wagging tails and rambunctious pets, so place these on high tables or mantels where pets can’t reach them. Dogs and cats also tend to chew on electrical cords for lights and displays, putting them at risk for dangerous shocks or electrocution. Make sure these cords are kept away from pets, or taped securely to a wall or floor.

Dried pine needles from wreaths or Christmas trees can actually puncture your pet’s stomach, so sweep up any dropped needles daily, and consider putting a fence or other barrier in place to keep your dog away. If you don’t put up a barrier, anchor the tree well so that it’s not easily knocked over by your pets. Keep tree ornaments that might be tempting to your dog and cat off the lower branches, and avoid any edible ornaments such as cranberry or popcorn strings that might cause your pet to climb the tree and possibly knock it over. And a tree skirt covering the water bowl at the base of the tree is an easy way to keep your pet from getting sick after drinking stagnant tree water.

Careful With the Leftovers
Your guests at the holidays may not know that certain foods can be very hazardous to your pet. Turkey or ham bones may seem like a nice treat for Fido, but they splinter when chewed and can cause serious damage to your dog’s intestinal tract. Raisins, grapes and chocolate are especially poisonous to dogs, and can cause death in very small amounts, so keep any cookies, candies or breads containing them away from pets. Onions, garlic and avocados are also mildly poisonous to pets, so don’t add any dips, gravy or stuffing to their meals without checking the ingredients first.

Holiday Guests and Your Pets
The holidays are often when families and friends gather, and a little planning can help make your pet safer around your house guests.

During parties, not all of your guests may be pet-friendly, and you may consider keeping your pets crated or in a separate room, away from the festivities, with plenty of toys and water to keep them occupied. Pets are easily agitated by loud music and noises like New Year’s Eve poppers, so often they are more content in a quieter area.

Make sure to keep all foods and alcoholic beverages up and away from your pet while you’re busy with your guests, and sweep up any confetti or streamers after they leave. Using food and garbage containers with lids, and cleaning up leftovers right away, are safe precautions. And if you have people visiting from out of town, ask they keep any medications zipped up and out of reach of curious pets.

Now that you’ve learned all that you need to know about holiday pet safety, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season with your family, including your furry four-legged family members.

A happy pet is a positive asset of a happy home, and that means you have to treat them right – but how much pampering is too much? We all want to take care of our beloved pets and make sure they have everything they need, but sometimes we see all the great, new accessories on the market and we just can’t help ourselves. And let’s face it, there’s nothing wrong with the occasional splurge on some stylish pet accessories. You simply have to ask yourself who you’re really trying to make happy.

A Bit Extravagant

There may be a fine line between pampering your pooch and being a little extravagant, but there are many cases in which pet owners launched themselves so far over that line they barely even realized it was there.

Would you, for example, buy a $24,000 Louis XV-style rosewood bed for your pets? How about a $3,000 bottle of French perfume? These may seem like absurdly excessive items to the average pet owner, but there are some very dedicated people out there who will buy these things without thinking twice.

Of course, not all of these people have the time to care for their pets directly, so they might purchase an automatic dog washer for another $20,000 or so. And if they have to be away from their home for an extended period of time, they want to make sure that their puppies have a comfortable place to stay – such as a 50sq. ft. doggie mansion complete with air conditioning, 7ft ceilings, and high-end furniture.

Combining Style and Necessity

It is possible to pamper your pets with the things they really need, and you don’t need to go overboard at all. It only takes a few simple items to make your pets really happy, and you will still have a lot of options to match your own individual preferences.

Some quality dog apparel, for example, doesn’t have to cost a lot, but it can help keep your puppy warm in the colder months. A nice sweater or jacket will provide that extra warmth, and you can choose the styles you like the most – and it’s a lot more affordable than a heater for that doggie mansion.

A range of dog toys will keep your pets entertained for hours at a time, and a few extra pillows or cushions will create the perfect spot for them to rest and revitalize before they start playing again. Finally, there are the dog collars and leashes. These are important items that establish ownership and identification, but they are also great for a little added style. While you should take the time to find the dog collars that are right for your breed of canine, the last thing you need to worry about is whether or not it is studded with real diamonds.

If you are going to pamper your pooch (and everyone should, at least a little), make sure you do it with the things that actually improve conditions for your pet. Your dogs will appreciate it, and your bank account will probably think better of you, too.

We were given the opportunity to give the Scotch™ Fur Fighter™ Pet Hair Sweeper a whirl at picking up dog hair. While we have lots of dust bunnies gracing our floors there isn’t a whole lot of dog or cat hair. Our inside dogs don’t shed enough to give the product a good testing. So we headed outside, armed with our clean, ready to use sweeper, to play with the big dogs on the porch.

The tool is basically a broom with a super flexible plastic piece in place of bristles. There’s a cloth that attaches easily at the top corners (both sides) of the triangular broom head and once it’s in place you’re ready to roll, looking something like this:

Our dogs were thrilled because after playing we decided to brush them and really get the pet hairs falling. Little did they know they were helping us with our testing and we doubt they cared. They were just excited to be getting all that extra attention.

After brushing the dogs they ran off to roll in the grass while we put the sweeper to work. It did a good job and the hair really does stick quite well … but the “glitch” came when the attached sheet kept coming off the plastic piece. It had to be reattached several times throughout the job. But, as you can see, it was a true fur fighter:

We went inside to test the other side of the “duster” broom on the dust bunnies hiding under the fridge, beds, stove and other hard to reach places. It was great for the difficult areas and attracted the debris that seems to collect in all those hidden places. Then we came up with the bright idea to see if it would get the little webs that sometimes hide in the corner of the ceiling. And those stuck, too, even with the dog hair and dust bunnies already clinging. It handled everything we threw at it and we’re certain there are many more uses than we thought of on our afternoon test run.

Overall, the broom is a very useful and versatile piece of light-weight equipment in an arsenal against pet hair (and dust bunnies and cobwebs). However, it’s not so great for really large jobs since it’ll only collect so much before it starts pushing the extra around. If you’ve got a LOT of pet hair it might take several sheets to get the entire job done. The biggest drawback is that the broom is virtually useless without the sheets and buying refills for any tool isn’t our favorite spend.

The broom is made specifically for hard wood floors and we’d recommend it highly for quick pick up or reaching those hard to reach spots that the vaccum cleaner just won’t reach. It works with little effort and does attract dog (and I’m sure cat) hair, dust bunnies and webs. It is super light and easy to store, making it perfect for touch up jobs or for those that have light shedding pets.

So, if you want a convenient tool for light loads and touch ups, and don’t mind purchasing the refills, then a Scotch Fur Fighter Pet Sweeper is the perfect product for you.