March includes National Poison Prevention week (March 21-27) and we want to share some safety tips for you and your sweet pets. When it comes to being safe, there is only so much you can do and prepare for, but it is helpful to have a mindset of what to look out for.

5 MAJOR items to watch for:

Human Medicine: Common human drugs including NSAIDs (e.g. Advil®, Aleve® and Motrin®), acetaminophen (e.g. Tylenol®) and antidepressants (e.g. Effexor®, Cymbalta®, Prozac®) can cause serious harm to your pets when ingested. From serious stomach and intestinal ulcers as well as kidney failure and severe liver failure in dogs and cats to damage of the red blood cells in cats; human medicine is not good for animals at all.

Fertilizers: It is gardening season and spruce up your yard season–with that comes fertilizers and insecticides! While many fertilizers would not do harm, more of an irritant of sorts, some are often combined with dangerous chemicals and compounds called organophosphates or carbamates, which can be harmful or deadly to pets.

Chocolate: Easter is just around the corner and with that a lot of chocolate to be had. Be mindful and keep the candy out of tongues reach! While the occasional chocolate chip in one cookie may not be an issue, certain types of chocolate can be very toxic. Baker’s chocolate and dark chocolate pose the biggest problem, primarily in dogs but in some cats too.

Flowers: They smell good, they beautify and literally make the day a brighter day, but some flowers are very dangerous to cats, especially. Certain types of lilies including tiger, day, Asiatic, Easter and Japanese lilies, are highly toxic to cats. Severe kidney failure can result from ingestion of even a few petals, leaves, or even the pollen

Xylitol: Many sugar free candies, drinks, and foods contain xylitol, a sweetener that is toxic to dogs. Even small amounts when ingested can result in a life-threatening drop in blood sugar, or with large amounts of ingestion, liver failure. Some indicators of ingestion are vomiting, weakness, tremors, difficulty walking, seizures.

There are many things that are not safe for your sweet fur babies, but these are some of the most common issues we have found throughout our years of research with safety and our pets.

Be mindful and know where your pets are at.

We love partnering with great pet companies providing wholesome and amazing treats! We partnered with Nandi this month, see their offer below!

Many purrs and barks,