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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.
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.
⚠️ 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.
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.
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.
This Halloween, Vets for Climate Action encourages everyone to celebrate sustainably. Try these eco-friendly alternatives:
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!
VfCA represents vets, vet nurses, vet receptionists, vet techs, animal carers, pet owners and animal lovers like you who want strong and immediate action on climate change. Animals suffer the consequences of climate change without responsibility. Vets and animal carers witness the impacts firsthand and carry the responsibility for biosecurity, food production, and protecting animals from climate change. With your support, we can take action on climate pollution and reduce the risk to the animals we love and care for.
Connect with Steff:
We’re halfway through Plastic-Free July and want to share some tried and tested tips and tricks to help you reduce plastic in practice. Why Reduce Plastic? As veterinary professionals, we stand at the intersection of animal, human and environmental health,...
