While a few well-chosen bites can be OK for your pet, allowing your four-legged friend to eat table scraps can leave him or her feeling pretty sick, or worse. Read through our holiday pet feeding tips to avoid serious problems for your pet this Thanksgiving.

Choose Your Pet’s Treats Wisely

Feeding your pet from the table isn’t really the best decision. Besides encouraging bad manners such as begging and counter-surfing, feeding people food to pets can also result in health problems.

If you must share your Thanksgiving dinner with your pet, though, be sure to:

Mind the calorie content – Pets don’t need a lot of extra calories to pack on the pounds. Over half the nation’s pets are overweight, resulting in increased risk for health problems such as diabetes, osteoarthritis, and even cancer. If you are feeding human foods to Fluffy or Fido, select low-calorie, low-fat options such as plain green beans, baby carrots, canned pumpkin, or even a bit of sweet potato. Consider taking a good walk after dinner as well to work off a few of those extra calories.

Think about the amount you are feeding – Anything in excess can cause problems. Feed your pet only small amounts of anything you offer to avoid vomiting and diarrhea. Also, don’t forget to think about the fat content that you are feeding. Poultry skin, buttery side dishes, gravy, or bacon can all trigger inflammation of the pancreas. Pancreatitis can cause serious dehydration, infection, and intestinal upset that requires aggressive treatment in some animals.

Avoid foods that can be toxic to pets – Foods like chocolate, raisins or grapes, garlic, onions, or those containing the artificial sweetener Xylitol can cause toxicities in our pets.

Mind Your Guests

Sometimes even though you understand what is best for your pet, your house guests may not. Aunt Millie may not be able to resist slipping your pitiful pooch some of her turkey skin, and Uncle Albert may invariably share a little pie with your pretty kitty. Make sure to tell your visitors not to feed your pets and keep an eye open for anyone ignoring your wishes.

When you have guests over, also be sure that their plates of goodies and drinks are out of the reach of pets. Alcoholic beverages, in particular, can be dangerous.

Don’t forget to put your visitor’s belongings in a closed room or closet. Nosy pets may find dangerous medications or sugar free gum containing Xylitol in someone’s purse or coat pocket.

Watch the Garbage

Even though we don’t intend to feed our pets human food, they sometimes help themselves. Holiday garbage in particular can be tempting. Common problem items pets may ingest include:

  • Aluminum foil
  • Plastic wrap
  • Turkey packaging
  • Cooked bones
  • Discarded leftovers

If your pet raids the garbage can, best case scenario is digestive upset. However, many of these items can also become lodged in the gastrointestinal tract, cause perforations, or trigger a pancreatitis episode. Be sure that your trash is pet-proofed.

We all enjoy the food at Thanksgiving, and our pets are no different. It is important, however, to use discretion and remember the risks involved with feeding table scraps. With a little forethought, however, we are confident that you will be able to enjoy a very happy Thanksgiving with your pet.