Halloween is a time for fun, costumes, and treats, but for our pets (and our planet), it can also bring a few frights of its own.
While we’re busy carving pumpkins and dressing up, it’s worth remembering that some of the spookiest things this season aren’t ghosts or goblins, they’re the hidden ways our celebrations can affect animals and the environment.
Toxic treats: A real nightmare for pets
Many popular Halloween treats are toxic to our pets, like chocolate and xylitol-sweetened lollies, Chocolate contains theobromine, which dogs and cats cannot metabolize properly, while xylitol (found in sugar-free lollies) can cause life-threatening drops in blood sugar and liver failure.
Keep these dangers in mind:
- Store all lollies and chocolate out of reach of curious paws
- Remind trick-or-treaters and visitors not to share treats with your pets
- If you want to include your pets in the festivities, opt for pet-safe snacks or homemade pumpkin treats
Common warning signs your pet may have ingested something toxic or dangerous:
⚠️ Vomiting or diarrhoea
⚠️ Excessive drooling
⚠️ Restlessness or hyperactivity (often seen with chocolate)
⚠️ Tremors, seizures or muscle twitching
⚠️ Lethargy or collapse
⚠️ Loss of appetite or signs of abdominal pain
If you suspect your pet has eaten chocolate, xylitol-containing lollies, or any foreign object like plastic or tinsel, contact your vet immediately. Don’t wait for symptoms to worsen. Prevention is the best protection.
Decorations that haunt our wildlife
It’s not just our pets we need to protect, but also the wildlife in our neighbourhoods.
Those synthetic cobwebs scaring the kids in the street are made from non-biodegradable plastic fibres. Once they’re used and discarded, they can break apart into microplastics that linger in the environment for centuries. Worse still, animals – especially birds, bats and small mammals – can become entangled in them, leading to injury or death, or mistake them for food. Even our beloved pets can be at risk if they come across stray strands.
Plastic waste is scary
From synthetic costumes and plastic decorations, to lolly and chocolate wrappers, Halloween generates millions of tonnes of plastic waste each year, much of which ends up in landfill or our oceans. These plastics can harm wildlife that mistake them for food or become entangled. Choosing reusable, DIY, or second-hand costumes helps reduce this impact and makes your Halloween a little less frightening for the planet.
Sustainable Spells for a better future
This Halloween, Vets for Climate Action encourages everyone to celebrate sustainably. Try these eco-friendly alternatives:
- Choose natural fibres over synthetic costumes and decorations: stretch natural cotton or wool fibres for your spooky web effect.
- Use fallen branches, leaves, and pumpkins to create eerie displays straight from nature (and compost your pumpkins when you’re done, don’t bin them!)
- Swap single-use decorations for reusable ones: choose decorations you can pack away to use next year (and scare people poking around your cupboards!)
- Support veterinary practices and businesses taking sustainable action
This Halloween, let’s make sure the only things that go bump in the night are ghosts, not the unintended consequences of waste, pollution, and climate change. This Halloween, let’s make kindness to animals part of the magic.
*And no, before you ask—real skeletons are NOT recommended. We checked with legal and they were very clear about this!
Join Vets for Climate Action and help protect the animals we love, because every pet (and planet) deserves a safe, sustainable future – not a scary one!
