Community Corner

How to Keep Your Pets Safe This Fourth of July

This Fourth of July, when Fido is pleading with his eyes for some food off of the grill, refrain your impulse to give into puppy dog eyes and serve him a tasty heaping of dog food instead.

“We may over indulge in a BBQ, but the scraps fed to a dog may create gastrointestinal problems,” said Chief of Suffolk County’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SCPA) Roy Gross. “Keep your dog on a regular diet and be sure to ask your guests not to give table food to your pet.”

Any change in diet, even for one meal, could give your pet severe indigestion and diarrhea, while foods like onions, chocolate, coffee, avocado, grapes and raisins, salt, and yeast dough are potentially toxic to companion animals. 

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The Suffolk County SPCA also recommends the following tips to make this holiday a pleasant one for pets:

  • Refrain from taking your pets to Independence Day festivities. Loud, crowded fireworks displays are no fun for pets.
  • Keep your pets safe from the noise in a quiet, sheltered, escape-proof area of the house.
  • Be careful about home use of fireworks.
  • Use the same caution for your pets as for your children.
  • Keep dogs inside if your neighbors use fireworks. Dogs are hyper-sensitive to loud noise and may get edgy if they are exposed to the noise.
  • Make sure your pet always wears a collar and ID tag.

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