How do I keep pets safe at Christmas?

Nothing about Christmas is inherently dangerous to a pet, but the combination is: an unusual amount of toxic food at floor height, strings and ribbons everywhere, doors opening constantly, a disrupted routine and a house full of people who do not know the rules. Vets see the same short list of cases every year, and every item on it is preventable in half an hour of planning.

Safety

What you'll need

• A quiet room the pet can retreat to
• A lidded bin
• Cord cleats or covers for tree lights (optional)
• A tree skirt to cover the water reservoir (optional)

Step by step

1. Brief the household and the visitors first.Nobody feeds the dog anything, however small, and nothing is left on a low table. This one conversation prevents most of the food cases, because the problem is almost never the owner — it is a relative slipping the dog a piece of Christmas cake.
2. Know the food list and keep all of it out of reach.Chocolate, including advent calendars at child height. Mince pies, Christmas pudding, stollen and fruit cake, all of which contain raisins, sultanas and currants. Onion, leek and garlic in stuffing, gravy and pigs in blankets. Cooked bones from the turkey. Blue cheese. Alcohol, including cream liqueurs, which dogs will drink readily. Macadamia nuts. Sugar-free sweets containing xylitol.
3. Deal with the bin and the leftovers.The carcass in a bin bag by the back door is one of the classic emergencies. A lidded bin, or the bin inside a latched cupboard, and the carcass straight into the outside bin rather than left on a worktop overnight.
4. Keep lilies out of the house entirely.They appear in Christmas bouquets constantly and they are lethal to cats, including the pollen. Check every bouquet that arrives, and tell people in advance not to send them.
5. Secure the tree, and think about what is on it.Fix the tree to the wall or use a wide stable base — cats climb them. Cover the water reservoir, because stagnant tree water and any preservative in it makes pets ill. Put fragile and edible decorations high up, and keep chocolate decorations off the tree entirely if you have a dog.
6. Treat tinsel, ribbon and string as a surgical risk for cats.Cats swallow strands because backward-facing barbs on the tongue make spitting them out difficult, and a length of string in the gut is a linear foreign body that requires surgery and can be fatal. If you have a cat, do not use tinsel, and clear ribbon and present string away immediately.
7. Manage the lights and the candles.Tree light cables are chewable and are at exactly puppy and kitten height — clip them out of reach or run them through conduit, and unplug at night. Never leave a candle burning in a room with a pet, and be aware that cats jump onto mantelpieces.
8. Check for the less obvious poisons.Snow globes can contain ethylene glycol, which is lethal in tiny amounts if one breaks. Poinsettia is mildly irritant rather than the killer it is reputed to be, but holly, mistletoe and ivy all cause vomiting. Salt dough decorations made by children are a genuine salt poisoning risk for dogs.
9. Give the pet a genuine retreat and keep the routine.A quiet room upstairs with the bed, water, and the litter tray for a cat, where the pet can go and where children are not allowed to follow. Keep feeding and walking times the same. A cat that has hidden should be left alone rather than brought down to meet everyone.
10. Find out the veterinary arrangements before the holiday.Practice opening hours over the bank holidays, who provides the emergency cover, where they are and how long it takes to get there. Do it in mid-December, not at eleven o'clock on Christmas night. Also check the microchip details are current, because doors standing open with visitors arriving is how pets go missing.

Tips

• Put a sign on the front door asking people to close it behind them. Escapes during a busy holiday are common and the streets are full of unfamiliar noise.
• A stuffed frozen food toy given when guests arrive occupies a dog through the noisiest part of the day and is the simplest single measure available.
• Fireworks at New Year matter as much as Christmas Day. Preparation beforehand — a den, closed curtains, background noise — is far more effective than management on the night.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a small amount of Christmas pudding is fine — Dried vine fruit has no established safe dose in dogs and can cause kidney failure. Mince pies and Christmas pudding are among the most common seasonal emergency calls.
• Using tinsel with a cat in the house — Swallowed strands cause a linear foreign body that needs surgery. The tongue's backward barbs make it very hard for a cat to spit one out once started.
• Letting visitors feed the dog scraps — It is the single largest source of Christmas cases, and it is entirely solved by telling people beforehand rather than after.
• Not knowing where the emergency vet is until you need one — Holiday hours differ, and the emergency provider may be some distance away. Finding that out during an emergency costs the time that matters most.

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