By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Make sure when you’re handing out candy this Halloween you keep it away from your pets.
Dr. Melanie Barnes, a veterinarian with Friends of the Animal Shelter of St. Joseph, reminds pet owners candy can be dangerous for pets.
“Make sure that your bowl of candy or your bags of candy or your little buckets of candy that maybe the kids have come home with stay up and away from the pets,” Barnes tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “Obviously, I think most people know chocolate’s a big no-no. Heavier, darker chocolate is what is more of an issue for pets. But, at the same time, we just do not recommend any chocolate ingestion. We try and avoid it at all cost.”
Another big no-no is Xylitol, also called birch sugar, a sugar substitute often found in sugar-free candy and gum.
“Gum is the big one,” Barnes says. “So, we need to be very cautious of what the ingredients are in the candies and the gum-type things that your kids are getting or that you’re buying, because that is really toxic, can be kidney toxic, neurologically toxic. So, make sure Xylitol is not an ingredient on any of your candy or things you’re giving out or, if it is, and your pet ingests it, you need to call your vet right away.”
Barnes cautions to keep the candy for trick-or-treaters in a bowl out of the reach of your pets.