Eight holiday foods and drink to keep away from your pets | Pet Peeves

What a wonderful time of year! It is the holiday season and a wonderful time for gathering with family and friends.

It is also a time when we are home more and tend to indulge in various foods and delicacies that might not agree with our pets.

Today's column is dedicated to covering the things we love but our pets can't eat. Some of these, like chocolate and coffee, most of us are aware of. Some of these may come as a surprise. But all of these should be kept far away from our pets so that we don't end up in the emergency room late at night.

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Take a look and see if there are any I missed. If you notice any, let me know at JohnsDVM@aol.com.

1. Alcohol. Pets are like children; giving them alcohol is a form of abuse. They do not know better. It can cause vomiting and diarrhea, central nervous system depression and respiratory distress. Liver failure and brain damage are long-term consequences.

2. Chocolate and coffee. I group these together because many of the symptoms are similar due to xanthines such as theobromine in chocolate and caffeine in coffee. They cause cardiac irregularities, vomiting and diarrhea, and excitability that can progress to seizures or coma. As a rule of thumb, the darker and richer the chocolate, the more dangerous it is. White chocolate is not a worry, while the 60% cacao bars can be very toxic.

3. Xylitol. In dogs it causes an insulin release that floods the system and results in severe hypoglycemia, and then it goes on to cause liver failure in the next 48 hours. Xylitol should be taken very seriously. Xylitol is in a lot of diet foods these days. It is even in one brand of reduced calorie peanut butter. So, you have to be really careful and read ingredients. Most of the toxicities are related to sugar free candy, gum and cough drops.

4. Grapes and raisins. They can cause kidney failure in dogs. The cause of the toxicity is not known and it does not seem to be dose dependent. In other words, a dog could eat a few grapes and go into renal failure, and another dog could eat a bunch of grapes and not show any symptoms. It is best to treat all grapes and raisins as if they are extremely toxic to dogs.

5. Avocado. This is a problem in birds, rabbits, horses and ruminants. Birds and rabbits can develop heart problems that can lead to death from this fruit. Horses and ruminants can develop swollen heads and necks.

6. Macadamia nuts. These nuts can cause weakness, depression, vomiting and tremors in dogs.

7. Onions, garlic and chives. These vegetables can cause gastrointestinal irritation at best, and in the worst-case scenario they can cause damage to red blood cells, resulting in a fatal illness. Cats are more sensitive to onions than dogs, but both can be harmed.

8. Salty snacks. Too much salt can cause vomiting and diarrhea. It can also cause an imbalance of electrolytes and in large amounts, brain swelling that can result in depression and seizures.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Foods dogs, cats can't eat: What to not feed your pet this holiday