KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — During Thanksgiving, families have a chance to get together and enjoy traditional dishes prepared with thought and care. Often, it's also a time when families end up with fridges filled with leftovers. And sometimes, those leftovers end up in food bowls for pets.
Many traditional Thanksgiving foods may not be safe for pets, though. For example, giving pets turkey chops with bones in them can lead to them swallowing bones, potentially causing dogs and cats to choke. Bones can also irritate pets' stomachs and throats after being swallowed.
Turkey is also usually seasoned at a Thanksgiving table, sprinkled with spices of all kinds and slathered in gravy. While it makes the meal delicious, the seasonings can include ingredients potentially toxic to dogs and cats — causing them to get sick. These can include onions, onion powder or garlic.
Turkey skin and fat can also be unhealthy for pets, potentially damaging pets' digestive systems.
Most holiday foods are also fatty such as ham, bacon, gravy or most meat scraps. Eating too much fat can lead to health problems for pets, such as pancreatitis or gastroenteritis. While pancreatitis can be fatal, gastroenteritis is a milder condition that causes vomiting or diarrhea.
Salty foods can also be unhealthy for foods. While the same is true in humans — eating too much salt can cause health issues like high blood pressure — it takes a smaller amount of salt to cause health issues in pets.
Desserts can also cause health issues. Most traditional sweets at Thanksgiving dinners include nuts or raisins. These ingredients can be dangerous for cats and dogs. Cats may have difficulty digesting nuts, while grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure in dogs. Chocolate is also well-known to be toxic to dogs.
Pet owners who want to make sure their dogs and cats still enjoy a Thanksgiving meal should stick to plain foods. Filling their food bowl with plain turkey meat can fill up pets, as can offering plain vegetables like squash, carrots or sweet potatoes. However, experts said vegetables shouldn't make up more than around 10% of a pet's daily diet.