The Vet Practice

Many people wrongly assume that if a food is fine for us to eat and enjoy then it's O.K to share it with our pets too.

While cats and dogs will and can eat a variety of foods, some contain toxins that can cause severe illness and even death in some cases.

Foods to keep your pets away from include:

• Chocolate
• Macadamia Nuts
• Grapes and Raisins
• Onions and Garlic
• Fatty foods such as bacon and Gravy
• Preserved meats such as ham, salami etc
• Avocados
• Spoiled or mouldy foods
• Green potatoes and potato peels
• Yeast dough
• Sugar Free lollies and Gum
• Nutmeg
• Alchohol
• Human medications - of any sort

And its not just foods that you need to be careful about.

There can be lots of other hazards around the home that can poison your pets.

These include:

• Ethylene Glycol - or antifreeze. Cats especially are attracted to its sweet taste
• Household glue - dogs love to chew on tubes and some can actually be tasty so beware of leaving any type of glue in handy reach
• Garden Fertilisers such as Blood and Bone and garden insecticides that contain organophosphates
• Snail or rat and mouse baits of any kind. They will most certainly kill your pet!
• Car batteries or batteries of any kind - Dogs love to chew on these and they can cause serious harm if ingested

And by the way - make sure you let the kids know about dangerous foods too. You don't want them sneaking in a few chocolates or lollies to their special friends behind your back!