Keep Your Pets Safe

The holiday season is a time for family, friends, joy, generosity and thankfulness. Of course, our pets are a part of our family life with the holiday season being no exception. Because of the busy holiday rush that we can all find ourselves in during this time of the year, we really need to think about our furry friends before we do all the baking, decorating, entertaining and wrapping.

Indoor Containment Systems
With the holiday season, come of course many parties and lots of visitors which mean lots of openings and closings of doors and ample opportunities for our pets to leave through an open door only to get lost, hit by a car or hopelessly injured in one of our snowy freezing winter storms. Make sure the first gift of the season is an ID tag for your dog or cat or an electronic containment system. While some people only think these systems are for outdoor containment, they also offer indoor systems.

Underground containment systems can be professionally installed outdoors and indoors. During the holiday season, the indoor systems can literally be a life saver and can be installed hard wired or with indoor wireless chargeable units, that can be placed virtually anywhere, to keep furry friends away from dangerous items, food, poisonous plants and out of rooms or contained in rooms.
When looking for a system, consider the background of the installing company. Does it have a quality reputation? How long has it been in business? How many employees? Is it backed by a large network of dealers nationwide? Does it offer a money back guarantee and lifetime warranty?

Food
Most vets agree that the best diet for our dogs and cats is a premium dog and cat food. While it is very tempting to share our holiday treats with our pets, chocolates, alcohol, fatty meats, gravies, some fruits and even onions can cause our pets to have toxic reactions, diarrhea, vomiting and even death. Solutions include banning all people food from their diet.

Decorations
Tinsel on a tree is “oh so inviting to play with,” especially for cats. Keep tinsel towards the top two thirds of the tree. If our pets get into it, they may cut their mouths, block intestines and cause expensive surgery. Another solution could be an indoor wireless unit. This unit will keep our pets away from the tree, so they can’t get close to temptations.

Plants
Many of the plants associated with the holiday season are poisonous such as: mistletoe, poinsettias, chrysanthemum, holly, lilies and amaryllis.” Solutions include using fake plants or an indoor wireless unit to keep the pet away.

Trees, Wires and Water
Many of us forget to water our live Christmas trees, but even more fail to understand the dangers that lurk underneath. A lot of us treat the tree water with preservatives or Aspirin. The untreated water can contain bacteria, all of which could be lethal to our pets. Solutions include providing our pets with plenty of water in several different areas around the house, or using a indoor wireless unit to keep the pet away. Tree light wires that lay on the floor should be wrapped and tapped down.

If we all take these concerns and solutions to heart before the holiday season is upon us, it just may save our pets a trip to the emergency, death and a very unhappy holiday season.
Joseph Peterson is the Marketing Director for Heart of America  Invisible Fence. A lifelong pet lover, he has consulted with hundreds of pet lovers in the past several years about the benefits of the Invisible Fence Brand system. He recently completed his Masters Degree in Human Resources. He can be reached by calling 816-941-7700 or emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .