1. No rich foods... gravy, candies, nuts can cause huge problems... remember not to leave food items wraped under the tree. As you know Fido/ Fefe has a great sense of smell.
2. Anchor your tree, a eye hook bolted to the wall or ceiling , with fishing line is a sure fire way to keep treesfrom tipping over, if you have a wild, rowdy animal.
3. If you buy a live tree, be sure to properly dispose of the netting that they wrap them in... we cut ours up stuff them in a box and put in the recycle bin... also bad for wildlife.
4. Try to keep your animals on their normal routine or as close as possible.
5. It's cold outside... when letting your dog out don't forget to let them back in... it is easy to forget when guest are around or your busy cooking or serving... keep a timer by the door and set it.
6. Check out the safety of holiday plants
7. Try to cover, up the hole for the xmas tree water stand. Water mixed with preservatives or pine sap could make your dog ill.
8. Give your dog a safe retreat to get away from all the guest, if need be.
9. Be careful of tinsel, icles, broken glass ornaments, pine needle ingestion, or the clips to attach ornaments, Ingesting / getting cut could mean a visit to the vet or worse.
10. If I seem like I am a worry wart... I am and I'm always looking for dangers to my pets, so if I forgot anything feel free to add.
Oh, Just remembered candles, potpourri pots and fondue pots are hazards... wagging tails or jumping cats can knock them off. Drinks sitting around can be ingested by pets. Make sure all guest knows Fido or Fefe is not to receive little tidbits of food or drinks.

Yep and cats are worse with the tree they like climbing up the trunk and batting at the ornaments.

Here is the toxic plants for pets list

ASPCA: Animal Poison Control Center: Toxic Plants

Our puppies are never left loose unsupervised. We hang bells on the lower limbs of the trees. We have a gate on one doorway and a crate blocking the other to confine the puppy to the room we spend most of out time.

While chocolate has long been know as a danger, recently it was discovered grapes and raisins can kill in even small quantities. Years ago, my sister's dog ate a whole fruit cake, wrappings and all and survived. No reason not to call your vet if your dog eats many grapes or raisins.

Bells on the bottom of the tree is an excellent idea.

Oh, yeah and plastic wrap, and foil could be quite dangerous.

Great idea to post all the things people may not think about bushg! I hope every member here that has a pet, stops in to take a look at this thread.

Ah, your welcome ruby... hope they don't feel like I'm trying to suck all the fun out of their holiday. I should have come up with a more dramatic title to get more viewers,so far only 20... but 20 is beter than 0.
Thank you to Labman and nohelp4u for adding to it.

What could suck the fun out of a holiday more than your dog getting sick or even dying?

Just a reminder foils, plastics, gravies, sweets, drinks etc... can make our animals ill. Give them some quite time if needed and a safe place to retreat from unwanted attention.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bushg

8. Give your dog a safe retreat to get away from all the guest, if need be.

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All good advice, but my dog won't recognize this one. :)

She's much too busy shmoozing to consider retreating, but she knows where her bed is should she suddenly decide all the extra attention is enough (which she has yet to do :D). As long as she can find a sucker top scratch her butt, she's not going anywhere.