As is traditional with Good Friday, many of us will be eating hot cross buns today. But don’t be tempted to share with your furry friends! Ingesting raisins, currants and sultanas, typical fruits found in this Easter food, can cause kidney failure which can be fatal. It’s not known exactly what quantities are toxic – some pets can each large amounts with no apparent effect, whilst for others, a single raisin has been enough. Please don’t take the risk!
With Easter Sunday just around the corner, remember to keep chocolate eggs out of reach of inquisitive noses! Yummy for us, but dangerous for cats and dogs. The theobromine in chocolate is very toxic to pets as their bodies can’t process it the same way ours do. And the higher the cocoa content, the more toxic the chocolate.
And if you’re thinking of giving flowers to a cat owner this Easter, please avoid lilies. Lilies of greatest concern are anything from the genus Lilium, including Easter lilies, tiger lilies and asiatic lilies, or from the genus Hemerocallis, including day lilies. Even rubbing against the pollen and then grooming, drinking water from the vase or nibbling on the leaves may result in severe, acute kidney failure.
Please phone us immediately for advice if your think your dog or cat has indulged in anything potentially harmful. Don’t wait for symptoms. Speed is of the essence.
For information on keeping pets safe from potentially harmful toxins all year round, visit TVM-UK’s great online resource, Common Pet Poisons.