There are, however, some things you can do to reduce the chance of a preventable visit to the vetsover the festive period.

Christmas related incidents often involve the dog or cat having eaten something inappropriate.

A run-down of some common offenders to Keep Away from the 4-footed friends (this is by no means exhaustive).

Chocolate

White chocolate is harmless, a super-cheap milk chocolate coin off the tree is unlikely to cause bother, but dark chocolate can be deadly. If the dog manages to get its paws on your chocolate stash, the safest is to phone the vet straight away, ideally with information about % cocoa, weight of the dog, amount consumed, and how long ago it happened.

Mince pies/ Christmas cake/pudding

These all contain vine fruits. For some dogs, raisins are extremely toxic, causing kidney failure. The toxic principle is still not understood – so, safest is to avoid these types of product.

Cooked turkey bones

These can perforate the intestine.

String from the joint of meat/ present

Wrapping ribbon - Some cats seem to really like eating string. It can cause the intestine to concertina, and cheese-wire through the gut wall – potential catastrophe.

Toothpicks/ cocktail sticks/ kebab sticks

Utterly lethal, these pierce through stomach and intestine, causing multiple perforations and sepsis. I have known dogs climb onto tables to steal them.

Batteries

Particularly remote-control and hearing-aid type ones – so easy to chew or swallow... these contain zinc, nickel, and rather corrosive chemicals... cue mouth and oesophageal burns.

Bin-raiding

obviously provides more access to the items mentioned above. Also, food can be rotting – adding vomiting, diarrhoea, and mycotoxin (from mould) intoxication to the list of misfortunes.

Hangover medications

Paracetamol is super poisonous to cats, and ibuprofen can cause kidney failure in dogs – keep out of reach.
Fairy lights, and pets that like to chew everything in sight, are a really poor combination.

Tin foil

Usually goes in one end and comes out the other, with some uncomfortable scraping on the way. Not horribly dangerous, but not nice and neither is the associated malaise and diarrhoea.

Poinsettia

This Christmas plant can be irritant to cats when eaten. Happily, the vomiting and dribbling that is causes usually goes away quickly, by itself, without treatment.
If you know your pet has eaten something dodgy, please don’t wait until it is waving a white flag before phoning for help. Many things are fixable if treated in a timely fashion.
Have a safe and happy Christmas. Here’s hoping 2021 is better than 2020!

(And remember – another way to make your vet happy is with wine and chocolate!)
For further advice or information, please contact 124 Vet by calling 282 338 407, or visiting www.algarvevet.com, Facebook