Halloween sends more pets to veterinary hospitals than almost any other single evening. Four things account for nearly all of it: candy within reach, a front door opening a hundred times, costumes, and decorations that get chewed. The preparation that actually works takes a few weeks, so the time to start is now rather than the week of.
Why Westlake has a busy night
Westlake is exactly the kind of neighborhood trick-or-treaters head for. Flat, walkable blocks, houses close together, plenty of families, and streets people drive in to walk. For most of the year that is the appeal of living here.
On October 31st it means three hours of near-constant doorbell, strangers in unfamiliar outfits, and a front door standing open in a house where the dog is already unsettled.
If your pet struggled with the Fourth of July, this is the same problem in a different costume. Our guide to keeping pets calm during fireworks covers the noise side, and much of what worked in July works again now.
The reason to think about this in September is simple. A safe room your dog already likes, a microchip record you have checked, and a costume your cat has met before are all things you cannot arrange on the afternoon of the day.
Candy, the biggest single risk
- Chocolate. Risk depends on type and amount relative to your dog’s weight. Dark chocolate and cocoa powder carry far more of the problem compound than milk chocolate. Signs include restlessness, a racing heart, vomiting, tremors and seizures
- Xylitol, sometimes labeled birch sugar. In sugar-free candy, gum and some baked goods. More dangerous than chocolate. It causes a rapid severe drop in blood sugar and can cause liver failure, and very small amounts matter
- Raisins, in the small boxes handed out as a healthier option and in baking. These cause kidney failure in some dogs and there is no reliably safe quantity
- Wrappers, lollipop sticks and foil, which cause obstructions and get swallowed alongside the candy
- Macadamia nuts in some chocolates, which cause weakness and tremors
If your pet gets into the bowl, call right away and count wrappers rather than guessing. Keep the packaging, because ingredients and cocoa percentage change our assessment.
Tell the kids the actual reason
The bowl by the door is rarely the problem. The problem is a bag of candy carried upstairs and left on a bedroom floor. Children respond far better to being told chocolate and sugar-free candy can make the dog seriously ill than to a rule about tidiness. Give them somewhere high to put the bag and make it their job.
The door is the other half
An open front door, repeatedly, in the dark, with an excited or frightened animal in the hallway is how pets get lost on Halloween. Cats slip out and do not come back for days. Dogs push past into a neighborhood full of strangers.
- Set up a safe room away from the front door now, so it is familiar and pleasant well before the night
- Bring cats in before dusk and keep them in for the evening
- Check the microchip registration is current. Five minutes, costs nothing, and it is the difference between a lost pet coming home that night and not coming home
- Collar and tag with a current number, breakaway for cats
- Use a baby gate or closed inner door as a second barrier
- Take a current photo and keep it on your phone
- Consider handing candy out from the porch with the door shut behind you
Costumes and decorations
Costumes suit some pets and genuinely distress others. The test is simple. Put it on, and if your pet freezes, tries to remove it, will not walk normally or looks flattened, take it off. A bandana gets the photo without the distress.
If you do use one, check it does not restrict breathing, movement, vision or the ability to open the mouth, that nothing dangles to be chewed off and swallowed, and never leave a costumed pet unsupervised. Introduce it a couple of weeks ahead.
Around the house, watch glow sticks and glow jewelry, which cats chew and which cause dramatic drooling and foaming; candles and lit pumpkins; fake cobwebs and streamers, which get eaten and can obstruct; electrical cords; and small props that come off decorations at pet height.
Noise, and the days around it
The doorbell is underrated as a trigger. A dog that reacts to one visitor will react a hundred times in three hours and is genuinely worn out by the end.
Disconnect or muffle the doorbell and sit outside to hand out candy. Put background sound on in the safe room, close the curtains, and feed and walk your dog well before dark. Walk earlier in the day rather than at dusk when the streets fill up.
If your pet has a serious noise fear, come and talk to us in the next few weeks. Our medical services team can look at the whole picture, and there is far more that can be done with a month of preparation than on the night.
When to call us
Contact our pet emergency and urgent care team right away for:
- Any amount of chocolate, sugar-free candy, gum or raisins eaten
- Swallowed wrappers, foil, sticks or decoration parts
- Restlessness, a racing heart, tremors or seizures
- Repeated vomiting, or retching without producing anything
- Weakness, wobbliness or collapse
- Any pet that escaped and came back different
- Distress that is not settling once the house is quiet
Frequently asked questions
My dog ate one small chocolate. Is that an emergency?
Call us with the wrapper to hand. Whether it matters depends on the type of chocolate and your dog’s weight, and that is worth calculating properly rather than guessing. Many of these calls end with monitoring at home, which is a far better position than wondering all evening.
Should I keep my cat in for the whole week?
The night itself is the essential part. Bringing cats in from dusk for the surrounding evenings is sensible too, since decorations, visitors and foot traffic build up over the week. If that is a change for your household, start shifting the evening meal earlier now.
My dog loves people. Can he greet the trick-or-treaters?
Consider it from the visitor’s side too. Small children in the dark, already excited, meeting a large excited dog at an open door is how bites happen even with lovely dogs. Most owners find it easier to keep the dog behind a gate.
My cat chewed a glow stick. What now?
Call us, but do not panic. The contents are extremely bitter, so cats usually drool, foam and dash around. Offer a little food or water to clear the taste, wipe any liquid off the coat before your cat grooms it, and call if there was eye contact with it or the reaction does not settle within a few minutes.
Are costumes cruel?
Not inherently, and plenty of pets are unbothered. It depends on the animal and the costume. If your pet freezes, hides, tries to get it off or stops walking normally, that is a clear no.
What is the single most useful thing I can do now?
Check your pet’s microchip registration details are current. Five minutes, costs nothing, and it is the difference between a lost pet coming home the same night and not coming home at all.
Speak to the team at Daly City Pet Hospital
If your pet struggles with noise or visitors, come and talk to us now rather than at the end of October. Call us on (415) 859-5676.
Published by the team at Daly City Pet Hospital.
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for an in-person veterinary examination or advice about your individual pet. If you have an urgent concern about your pet, contact Daly City Pet Hospital or your nearest emergency veterinary hospital right away.
Daly City Pet Hospital
170 Skyline Plaza, Daly City, CA 94015
Phone: (415) 859-5676
Email: staff@thecitypethospital.com
Hours: Open every day 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM