Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, scary but fun when I was younger but now just fun, since we have 5 kids in our house and nothing can frighten me anymore. Our pets are a part of our lives and so we want to include them all our holiday festivities. The problem with Halloween is that it can be truly terrifying for them in various ways. As an emergency veterinarian of over 20 years, I have compiled here my own list of the top 5 Halloween pet hazards, including how to avoid these possible pitfalls and what to do if they happen anyway.

#5 Halloween Parties

Who doesn’t love a good Halloween party? Maybe it’s a cute pumpkin-painting event for your little one where the kids show up in ladybug and octopus costumes, or perhaps a more adult party where moms get to let their inner wild-child out with risque/borderline tramp versions of the Disney princesses. Either way, there is typically tasty food served at these ghastly get-togethers and that means there’s a possibility of your pet experiencing something called a dietary indiscretion. This is a polite was of saying your pet delightedly consumed some people-food that was probably quite fatty and not so easy to digest and this is very likely to lead to some degree of vomiting and diarrhea. At the worst, dogs can develop inflammation of their pancreas (pancreatitis) which can have severe effects and even be life-threatening in some extreme cases. Your pet might have to see a vet on an emergent basis due to vomiting and diarrhea that causes dehydration and could even require admission to the hospital for intravenous fluids and supportive medications. This is all a giant downer when 1) your dog eats the giant cheese ball you molded into a skull for your fancy charcuterie board and then 2) on November 1 you’re heading to the pet ER, while you as a parent may be nursing a hangover and your kids are in a full sugar crash.

Another cool Halloween party prop is dry ice, but the effect is not worth it if your pet has a chance to get into it, as it can cause oral irritation and even possibly carbon dioxide intoxication. I particularly love the title of this article by Bonnie Park: Lessons Learned: Asphyxiation Hazard Associated with Dry Ice if you’re looking for more info on this rare but possible issue.

All this can be avoided by making sure your guests don’t leaves plates laying around at snout-level and keeping your buffet away from table and counter edges. Our labrador Fat Hampy is known to somehow increase his body length by double and has reached far corners to obtain whatever food he can. The best bet is to keep your pets away from the melee so as not to tempt fate at all. We have our pets hang out in our comfy bedroom with their beds and water bowl and some fun treats of their own, vet-approved.

#4 Pet Halloween Costumes

Fat Hampy is modeling a slightly form-fitting pig costume here, which is ironic, since he is actually more of a pig than our true mini-pig, Teddums. While it’s it’s loads of fun to dress up not just yourself (trampy Disney princess), your kid (adorable Octopus) AND your pet, it’s imperative you make sure the costume is safe: not too constrictive, which could at the very least uncomfortable or at worst decrease circulation to their limbs or around their neck. Also, keep it simple and limit the hanging pieces or extra-decorations on certain costumes that they could reach and chew on or even ingest, leading to gut issues including bowel obstruction. This requires emergency surgery and is also not a nice way for you and your pet to spend the day after Halloween.

#3 Trick-Or-Treater Stress

Some of our pets are social butterflies and absolutely love visitors. Others are more introverted souls who prefer not to have the sound of knocking or doorbells every 3 minutes. They are the dogs and cats who claim they definitely want to hang out at the party, but then have a sudden case of stress colitis and make the excuse that the need to finish their nonexistent homework. This and the extra noises that usually happen outside from rowdy trick-or-treaters can make them feel extremely stressed, leading to potential potty accidents in the house and tremors from sheer terror. Another concern is that all the opening and closing of the front door can make it much more likely for an accidental escape of your pet. Making sure they have their collar with IDs on them and having them micro-chipped in case they do get out will give you more peace of mind that you will see them again.

If you already know your pet is on this end of the stress spectrum, taking the precaution of discussing things with your vet prior to Halloween is helpful. They can potentially prescribe some calming and anxiety-decreasing medications like trazodone or gabapentin. Giving these a few hours prior to the onslaught of trick-or-treaters can be extremely impactful. Isolate them away from the door and the noise and considering dressing them up with a Thundershirt or the Storm Defender Cape (both special outfits that are just tight enough in the right places to apply some gentle pressure that can help calm stressed out dogs).

#2 Halloween Decorations

Yes, there are so many cool and scary options these days for interior decorations for Halloween and it’s easy to run into Spirit Halloween for a wig and come out with so many skeletons, lights, garland, plastic bleeding hands and animatronic clowns that you could start your own Spirit Halloween in your own living room and sit there wondering why your bank account is in the negative. However, any new or interesting objects in their environment can make pets extremely curious. They often satisfy that curiosity by tasting and possibly swallowing whatever it is, possibly leading to a bowl obstruction (yes, pets like to get these a lot). Specifically, anything with string will be extra-enticing to your cat, but these can end up becoming something we term a “linear foreign body obstruction.” This happens when a part of the string-like foreign body gets anchored in the stomach and then the rest attempts to move through the rest of the bowel. This creates a scary “draw-string” effect, causing a bunching that leads to an obstruction of the small intestine. Yes, this means emergency surgery too, and the longer it waits, the worse the outcome can be. The above photo is of our cat Margaret Cheeks, who I caught investigating this sparkly vinyl cobweb before I threw it outside.

Electric lights can be bitten into and cause electrocution, leading to oral burns, heart rhythm issues and fluid in the lungs. And watch out for candles. Everyone loves their pumpkin spice scent this time of year or to light up their jack o’-lantern works o’ art, but these can either be easily knocked over and start raging fires or cause burns to your pet.

#1 Toxic Candy

Really, all Halloween candy is Trick not Treat for our pets, but when it comes to candy containing either chocolate or xylitol, this is when things get toxic.

The majority of our Halloween candy will have chocolate in it, and, although there is a toxic range for dogs and the darker the chocolate, the more potent, I would caution against any chocolate ingestion for our dogs. Even at nontoxic doses, it can still cause that GI distress and possible pancreatitis we were discussing earlier and if I haven’t convinced you by now, I’ll reiterate that you really don’t want to deal with dog diarrhea or ER vet trips. At toxic doses, we can see hyperactivity, fast irregular heartbeats, seizures, coma and even death. It is not to be taken lightly and even if you don’t think it was likely a large ingestion, it is much better to call the ASPCA Poison Control line ((888) 426-4435)), your local veterinarian, or your closest veterinary ER center to find out if it’s recommended to bring your pet in. If they do recommend your pet is seen, typically for an ingestion within the last 1-2 hours, we will induce vomiting with specific medication to get as much of it out of their system as possible. Additional treatments can include administering activated charcoal to help absorb remaining toxin, medication for any fast irregular rhythms and seizures, and sometimes even breathing support (mechanical ventilation). Your vet may also recommend an infusion of intralipids, a fat emulsion that helps remove the toxin from the body.

Xylitol is a sugar substitute and can be found in various sugar-free candies. The most common is chewing gum, which I don’t really consider a candy (I’m a purist). And I don’t really know what jerks are handing out chewing gum to trick-or-treaters, but I’m pretty sure they are the same people who also give out #2 pencils and pennies as “treats.” The majority of the candy your kids will receive on Halloween is most likely loaded with 100% pure sugar, but all it takes is one guy who thinks he’s helping to solve child obesity by handing out sugar free candy. Check the packages for ingredients and if you see “xylitol” on a chewed wrapper, get your pet to the vet ER asap. There will also be induction of vomiting for this if it was ingested in the last 1-2 hours. Xylitol can cause dangerously low blood sugar and significant liver damage and can definitely be life-threatening. At our house, when the kids return with their candy bounty, we force them to keep their bags on top the fridge, where no pet can possibly reach it. There the bags usually stay, well into spring, when they are replaced by Easter baskets for the same reason. Our kids are just too lazy to pull up a chair and reach the candy they spent hours collecting.

Halloween is a super fun time, but it can be scary for our 4-legged buddies if we don’t take a few precautions. I have faith that you will keep your pets safe. But if I do happen to see you in my ER on the morning of November 1, I will be kind, understanding, attentive to your pet’s needs and promise not laugh at your Disney Princess strumpet-wear.