How to keep New Year celebrations safe for animals

There is water in that big glass… Keep your pets safe during the holidays… No alcohol, please~

Angel and Annabelle Celebrating… Happy New Year 2012~

Whether celebrating New Year’s Eve at an outdoor venue where there will be fireworks or hosting a house party, there are certain things that must be taken into consideration for your pets. Most New Year’s Eve parties can get rather boisterous, with loud music and people coming and going. How to keep your New Year’s celebrations safe for animals starts with ensuring that they will not be able to leave the home through an unattended door, and making sure that the party’s noise doesn’t get too loud for them. If you are planning on a loud party it may be best to find someone to take your animals for the night, so that you won’t have to keep checking on them.

Loud noises and animals just do not mix well, and a New Year’s Eve party can be one of the louder parties of the year. The day after, New Year’s Day, can be quite the awful day for humans and their four-legged best friends too, since the humans will be hung over from over-indulging during the festivities of the previous night. Dogs will need to be walked, let out to do their business and stretch their legs, and they will need to be fed and watered.

One thing that must be done is to ensure that the animals do not have access to the door(s) that will be repeatedly opened and closed all night long. Make sure that, if possible, people only enter and exit the party through a set of double doors, like a pantry entry or through the garage. Every time someone comes into the party or leaves, there is a good chance that they may leave the door open for a few seconds longer than normal whilst saying their goodbyes and wishing everyone a Happy New Year. While the door is left open the animals can easily sneak outside which could lead to them getting lost, stolen or even run over by a distracted or even an inebriated driver.

During the festivities, foods should be kept on kitchen counters, high tables and in the fridge as many of the foods distributed during New Year’s Eve festivities will have alcohol and/or nuts and/or chocolate in them. All of these ingredients can be threatening to many animals’ health, even to the point of being lethal if enough is digested. Many people will be sitting around on couches and living room chairs, as well as in the kitchen (there’s always a group of people who migrate to the kitchen during parties), and many of these people will, in their drunken or even slightly inebriated state, feed whatever is lying around on the tables or in their laps to the begging animals (“Oh, how cute! Here, have a treat!”).

Keeping animals safe at a New Year’s Eve party can be rather hard, especially while mingling with all of the different groups of invited party guests. If at all possible it is always best to have your animals stay at a friend’s or family member’s house until after the fun and recovery is over. Make sure to bring some food, toys and treats, as well as a water dish for the animals, and a cage for birds, as well as a small but thoughtful gift for the animal caretaker when you drop your animal(s) off.

Source: Hellum – Created on: December 13, 2011 Last Updated: December 17, 2011 by Marc Phillippe Babineau – Cross-Posted at Just One More Pet

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About Ask Marion

I am a babyboomer and empty nester who savors every moment of my past and believes that it is the responsibility of each of us in my generation and Americans in general to make sure that America is as good or even a better place for future generations as it was for us. So far... we haven't done very well!! Favorite Quotes: "The first 50 years are to build and acquire; the second 50 are to leave your legacy"; "Do something that scares you every day!"; "The journey in between what you once were and who you are becoming is where the dance of life really takes place". At age 62 I find myself fighting inoperable uterine Cancer and thanks to the man upstairs and the prayers from so many people including many of my readers from AskMarion and JustOneMorePet... I'm beating it. After losing our business because of the economy and factors related to the re-election of President Obama in 2012 followed by 16-mos of job hunting, my architect-trained husband is working as a trucker and has only been home approximately 5-days a month since I was diagnosed, which has made everything more difficult and often lonely... plus funds are tight. Our family medical deductible is 12K per year for two of us; thank you ObamaCare. But thanks to donations from so many of you, we are making ends meet as I go through treatment while taking care of my father-in-law who is suffering from late stage Alzheimer's and my mother-in-law who suffers from RA and onset dementia as well as hearing loss, for which there are no caretaker funds, as I continue the fight here online to inform and help restore our amazing country. And finally I need to thank a core group of family, friends, and readers... all at a distance, who check in with me regularly. Plus, I must thank my furkids who have not left my side through this fight. You can see them at JustOneMorePet.

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