Easter’s hidden risks for your pet

REAL DANGERS Chocolate eggs, choking hazards and sugary fatty treats all make Easter a risky time for dogs and cats.


The vet's view
Conal Finnerty

The Easter holidays just around the corner, and that presents some risks for our pets. With the widespread availability of Easter eggs and chocolates of all sorts, some of which contain very high levels of sugar and fats, it is perhaps a good time to flag the dangers of such food products for dogs, and indeed cats.
There’s also the rising trend of adorning our houses with Easter decorations. Some of these decorations can cause choking or bowel blockage if ingested by our pets – another reason to flag this time of year as being particularly hazardous from a vet’s view.

Theobromine
Chocolate contains the active ingredient theobromine, with increasing concentrations the darker and more concentrated the chocolate. This ingredient is and can be very toxic and potentially fatal to dogs.
Theobromine enters the dogs bloodstream very quickly (after having caused increased secretion of gastric fluids, causing gastric ulceration and acute vomiting), which directly affects the heart muscle and causes increased heart rate. This increased heart rate in turn causes a dramatic change in fluid concentration in your pet’s bodily systems, known as diuresis, which causes thirst. Consequently, the patient drinks to excess, compounding the problem of vomiting.
This is commonly followed by increased respiration and generalised muscle contractions, leading to convulsions, cardiac arrest and respiratory failure.
Little can be done outside of taking the animal out of their distress and misery at this stage.

Sugars and fats
The high levels of sugars and fats in Easter confectionery can, if ingested, cause acute life-threatening pancreatitis in dogs and cats, which can manifest days after ingestion. High-sugar and high-fat treats can cause potentially fatal inflammation of a pet’s pancreas up to a number of days after they are eaten. This is another problem that presents around Easter, when there may be an increased abundance of such treats lying around for pets to ingest. Small dogs and cats are at a higher risk of poisoning, due to their small body size relative to volumes of chocolate, sugar and fat consumed.

Prevention
The best treatment for chocolate poisoning and acute pancreatitis in our pets is prevention. Being mindful of little humans leaving these treats about for pets to get to is a good idea. Early education for said humans (telling them directly that chocolate and sugary treats are very bad for pets and can kill them) is no bad thing either.
Remember, if you see your dog ingesting chocolate, no matter how little, or you suspect that they have, then prompt action or ‘over reaction’ may well save the animal’s life, since once it has been absorbed – which happens quickly – there is little that can be done to limit the potential damage.

Veterinarian Conal Finnerty MRCVS practises at the Skeldale Vet Clinic in Ballinrobe and Belmullet. Follow the clinic on Facebook, or call 094 9541980 or 087 9185350 to make an appointment.