A few days ago, I brought home a Christmas gift in a big brown paper bag a friend of mine gave me. After taking out the gift, I left the paper bag on the floor -- I didn't give it much thought. My cat showed some curiosity toward the bag, but I didn't give him much attention because I thought paper wouldn't cause harm to cats...boy, was I wrong! I could hear the cat investigating the bag. Then, suddenly, the cat freaked out and started to run around the house like crazy. He had the twine handle part caught around his neck and went bonkers. The naughty cat must've put his head through the handle and couldn't get his head back out, so he panicked. Everything turned out to be all right and the cat calmed down after he was freed, but it was a good lesson for me to learn: you must be careful every time you bring back home something new to your pets. Your precious pets can get into it and cause trouble if they are not supervised.

One of the HealthPetNet's free newsletters talks about holiday survival guide for pets. They list many tips (and they are all so important!). Just to name a few:

• There are many shiny playthings on Christmas trees that can provide eternal amusement for your pets, so try to use unbreakable ornaments. Also, make them more inaccessible to your pets. Put glass lights in the deeper parts of the tree. If your pet is fond of chewing on electrical wire, rub petroleum jelly and hot sauce on the wire so that your pet won't later earn the nickname Don King.


• Beware of strings, tinsel...anything long and thin. Dogs and cats just love to eat these objects, which can twist their way through the GI tract, resulting in grave consequences.


• Keep away any essential oils that you may get as gifts such as lavender and eucalyptus. They can be toxic to dogs and almost certainly to cats. It is essential that you keep the oils out of harms reach.


• Over the holidays, we tend to clean and get headaches more than usual. What do these two things have in common? Bleaches, chemical household cleaners, oven cleaners and pain medications can be really harmful to our pets. For example, if a cat walks on a just bleached floor and later licks his paws, he can experience a bad reaction. Furthermore, pain medications can look strangely like pet treats, so be careful.


• Avoid giving chicken bones, raw or cooked. They can splinter and get caught in the throat.

I hope you will spend wonderful holiday seasons with your family and your pets!

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