Tips to keep your pet safe during Halloween

Reminder: Culpeper’s first “Bark for Life” is this Saturday, Oct. 31 from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Culpeper Agricultural Enterprises. Bark for Life is a one mile walk-a-thon where dogs and their people help raise funds for the American Cancer Society. For more information or to register as a walker, please visit relayforlife.org/culpeper and click on the Bark for Life button.

At the Bark for Life event, Clevengers Corner Veterinary Care will be holding a microchip clinic. For a special price of $40 you can have a permanent identification chip implanted into your dog. For every chip implanted, $10 will be donated to the American Cancer Society. 

Also, remember that this is your last week to participate in the Clevengers Corner Veterinary Care Pet Costume Contest. Costumed pets can enter by visiting the office from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. this Monday through Thursday, from 7 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. on Friday, and from 8:30 a.m. until noon on Halloween. Don’t miss out on this fun annual tradition. Please visit ClevengersCorner.com for information and pictures from prior years.

Q: How can I be sure my pet enjoys Halloween and stays safe?

A: “Howl-o-ween” is next weekend and your pets can have some fun, too. To help keep them safe, there are several important tips to remember.

First, bring your cats inside! Every Halloween veterinarians see the painful results of horrible pranks played on cats. The problem is worse for black cats. To keep them safe, please bring them inside.

Second, keep your dogs away from trick-or-treaters. Take care when walking your dog on Halloween. Keep them away when the doorbell rings. Costumes scare dogs, too. Costumed children can be injured even by dogs that would normally not be dangerous.

Third, if you let your pet wear a costume, be sure to supervise them closely. The costume should not have small beads, string, or other decorations that can easily be chewed off and make pets very sick.
Fourth, keep them away from the sweets. Chocolate and other sugary treats are not safe for your family pet.
Finally, be sure your pets have proper identification in case they slip out unexpectedly. The best permanent identification is an implanted microchip. Other methods include collars, ID tags, and tattoos. If you follow these simple rules, Halloween can be safe and fun for the entire family, including your pets.

Q: My cat Fluffy has been around for seventeen years. I know she is old and I don’t want to bring her to the vet because I’m afraid she’s going to tell me to put her to sleep. Fluffy has been slowly dropping weight for several months and recently stopped grooming herself.  Is there anything a vet could do to help her?

A: Absolutely and emphatically yes! At Fluffy’s age, she is roughly equivalent to an eighty-six year old person. Yes, she is a “senior catizen,” but that certainly does not mean that modern medicine cannot address her ailments. The fact that you have noticed Fluffy’s weight loss and unkempt coat give you an opportunity to address her ailments before she becomes seriously ill.

Many of the common causes of these symptoms can be successfully treated when caught early. If she has an overactive thyroid gland, inexpensive pills are available or a single radioactive iodine injection cures 99 percent of cats with almost no side effects. If kidney disease is the culprit, a simple diet change could double her life expectancy after early diagnosis. Even many cancers can be successfully treated in ways that maintain a high quality of life.

The most important thing to do is seek your veterinarian’s help as soon as possible. The earlier we diagnose a problem, the more we can do to help. Since this is still National Pet Wellness Month, I will
also add that twice-a-year preventative examinations and laboratory screenings could catch problems even before outward symptoms like weight loss develop. You can visit NPWM.com for more information and to see a list of AVMA recommended wellness screenings. There is also an age calculator to tell you the relative human age of your pet.

Dr. Watts is a companion animal general practitioner and owner of Clevengers Corner Veterinary Care. He can be reached through ClevengersCorner.com or by calling 428-1000.