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YahooHolidays are hectic and the most hectic season of all is barreling down the straightaway right now. Once Halloween is over, the business of Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's will be upon us and it's easy to get caught up and distracted.
We think of Thanksgiving as a benign, peaceful holiday without all the overwhelming drama of Christmas; at least for everyone except the family cook. It's just a nice family dinner, right? The dogs are looking forward to laying around and drowsing after playing with the cousins, bellies full of turkey and dressing scraps, maybe a smidgen of pumpkin pie, mincemeat, or a squirt of whipped cream in the mouth. When everyone's napping in front of the football game on TV, maybe a foray into the kitchen to rogue the turkey carcass. Harmless. Right?
Wrong!
First off, forget the mincemeat. It's got raisins in it. Bad news for dogs. And then there are the turkey bones. Poultry bones, when cooked, have a nasty characteristic of being hard and splintering into sharp shards, the kind that can slice up an esophagus on the way through the digestive tract, doing a number on a stomach and then the intestines. Even if laceration is avoided, there's still impaction to worry about.
Put the carcass away. Once the meat has been pulled off and tucked away in the refrigerator, find a safe place for the carcass, whether it's stuck back in the oven until you're ready to take it out and secure it in the garbage outside, or wrapping it in a plastic bag and sticking it in the freezer until garbage day. It only takes a minute to keep your dog safe. A minute versus a lifetime of potential regrets.
Some dogs have a cast iron digestive system that nothing upsets. There's nothing wrong with sharing some of the holiday repast with them -- in moderation, and with an eye to what might be toxic. Dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, and of course, turkey, ham, or roast beast are perfectly fine, even a little gravy and cranberry sauce, provided your dog doesn't have a twitchy tummy when given unfamiliar foods. Even a little pumpkin pie isn't going to hurt -- just not too much because of the sugar. The key is to not overdo it, especially if you're giving the dog things like the turkey skin where there's some fat. Over indulgence in rich, fatty foods can give a dog a bad case of pancreatitis very quickly, and if the game's just gone into overtime, no one's going to be happy with a trip to the emergency vet.
Now, if your dog does get into some turkey bones, following them with some “padding” food like mashed potatoes or bread and some plain canned pumpkin to help work it through naturally and easily, with plenty of bulk is your first line of defense. Watch carefully for any signs of discomfort; drooling, choking, gagging, pawing at the mouth, whining, lethargy, non-responsiveness, a distended or painful to the touch abdomen, hunched up posture, blood in the urine or stool or not passing any stool and if you see any of these signs get to a vet, pronto. If you see choking or gagging or pawing at the mouth, try to get a look inside the animal's mouth and throat to check for a bone lodged in the soft tissues or the teeth. If you can remove it safely, do it, otherwise call the emergency vet office and get there fast.
Pancreatitis may show many of the same signs; the painful or distended abdomen, lethargy, whining, hunched posture of the back, along with yellow stool, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, lack of appetite and depression. This is something that needs veterinary attention quickly. It can be an extremely painful condition and can, without care, be fatal.
