Thanksgiving Safety Tips for Pet Owners

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, please let us all keep are pet's safety in mind. A few common sense and not common sense rules will go a long way.

Watch the table! Your table can be beautifully decorating and also 'eye-candy' to your best buddy. Keep food covered and away from table edges. An easier solution might also be to keep the animal out of the dining room and/or kitchen during dinner time.

Discourage your family members and guests from indulging your pet with inappropriate snacks. Food high in sodium (especially peanuts and chips) and other fatty foods like poultry skin, beef or pork fat can cause an inflammation of pancreas. Pancreatitis is potentially life-threatening condition.

Secure your trash at all times! Keep your trash cans far away from your animals, or better yet, take it out right after your done with it. This will insure that your animals don’t jump inside the canister or knock it over to get to those juicy Turkey bones! Even a vegetarian house wants to keep an eye out, onions and chocolate can do just as much damage!

DO NOT give your pets animal bones! According to 'doghobbyist', “cooked turkey, duck, geese and other bird bones are dangerous to your pet. They are hollow and break and splinter easily. Also, because they are so easily breakable, dogs usually won’t chew them thoroughly. The results are sharp pieces that can choke the dog or block, tear the intestines.”

Consider giving your pets their own space during the time when family, friends and others are at your home during Thanksgiving. Sometimes even the calmest of animals can become highly stressed due to the added noise that we all have during the holidays. Consider taking them for a Long walk prior to company coming over.

Leave your pets at home when attending holiday parades and festivities. Though floats, large balloons and crowds can be a blast for your family, they can send your dog into an anxious or even aggressive state. Leave your dog at home and let them enjoy the festivities on TV while relaxing on their favorite blanket.

As always, make sure your pets are wearing their collars with tags. If someone forgets to shut the door, you want to make sure your pets are easily identifiable.

Have a Wonderful and Safe Holiday!

Thanksgiving is a time for thanks and generousity, unfortunately there are Thousands of pets put to sleep by reluctant pet owners, who are faced with financial challenges that prohibit them from rendering emergency and necessary medical care for their animals. We are doing our part.

Please go to www.wholesalepetdirectory.weebly.com to pick up your list of over 150 wholesale pet product manufacturers and companies, it will save you hundreds of dollars and also it will help this Great cause!

More Thrifty Tips for Petowners

We all know how expensive vet bills are and we have all paid them. But one thing you may want to think about when looking for or changing your vet is to find an older vet. One reason is because an older vet doesn’t have to pay any longer for his college education (with any luck), whereas he/she has been out of school for years and will sometimes offer less expensive rates. Some of the best vets I have ever met have more of an ‘old school’ thought process and don’t encourage the bigger and better ad ons. Another thought, if you happen to live near a vet school, inquire about discounts, most times it can save on vaccinations and routine issues and although the students aren’t as experienced, they are always supervised.

When it comes to dog food, shop around, sometimes the most expensive food does not mean it is the best. There is no doubt that there are superior brands, however again, shop around. Also, contact your manufacturer directly, or go to their website, don’t hesitate to ask for a coupon. If you tell them that you may go with ‘brand X’ because you feel it is the same quality but offered at a less expensive price, chances are they will give you that coupon and keep them coming.

Not to offend any groomers out there, but you can also do your own grooming between the times you take you pets in for their usual appoints. Perhaps do some good daily brushing or nail trimming, that way perhaps you can cut down your time and price when you go for your regular visits. Ask for a frequent visitor’s reward card of some kind, most groomers will give you the 6th or 10th or whatever grooming free. Never hurts to ask.

Join freecycle, for those of you who don’t know, the concept behind freecycling is finding new use for used items rather than throwing them out and utilizing land fills and everything is Free. Sometimes you can find crates or kennels or other pet supplies that people need to leave behind due to moves or for whatever reason. www.freecycle.org Also on craigs list you can look under the free section, they also will list pet items for free such as crates that their puppy has outgrown. www.craigslist.org

And please, for those of you looking for your new best friend, don’t overlook the shelters in your area. If you are looking for a particular breed, you could also look at the specific breed rescue. For a small donation, your new buddy will be spayed/neutered, up to date on shots, thus saving you money for puppy or kitten vet bills ~ but most importantly ~ he/she will be your forever friend!

If anyone has any other thoughts on saving pet owners money, please feel free to post them! Please no spammers, with a self-promoting agenda.