Festive foods that can kill your pet

Feeding your dog a festive treat, like ham or a slice of fruit cake, might seem like a kind thing to do during the season for giving - but doing so actually puts your four-legged loved one's health at risk.

Raisins, which sweeten Christmas cake, are toxic to cats and dogs. They can make pets lethargic or excessively thirsty, damage their kidneys, make them vomit or possibly kill them, the SPCA has warned.

Giving pets fatty meats like ham, pork crackling and sausages can give them pancreatitis (inflamation of the pancreas) - a painful and potentially deadly condition.

Other festive foods that humans enjoy but are dangerous to cats and dogs include avocado, macadamia nuts and grapes.

SPCA veterinary manager Dr Shalsee Vigeant said pet owners needed to take extra care to keep their fur-babies safe over the Christmas season, by not sharing food with their cat or dog and making sure they store food out of pets' reach.

"It's important to know that ignoring your pets' pleading faces and smooches is actually in their best interest. Dogs and cats digest and metabolise food differently to humans so what might be perfectly fine for us can be poisonous to them."

SPCA Auckland staffer Jessie Gilchrist knows first-hand how easily pets can get into food they're not supposed to eat.

Last Boxing Day, Gilchrist had to rush her 2-year-old Schnauzer-cross Cody to the vet after he stole some Christmas fruit cake, which was on her parents' benchtop, and devoured it.

"He leaned up right in front of me, grabbed a chunk of the Christmas cake and ate it before I could run over and stop him," she said.

"Fortunately because I knew that it was dangerous and I knew that the toxins in the grapes could be so deadly I acted fast."

The vet gave Cody medication to make him vomit and he was on an IV for 48 hours as a precaution.

"My advice to any dog owner is to be extra-vigilant at this time of year. At home I'm really cautious about making sure that the food isn't within his reach, but I didn't even think that he could reach another kitchen bench.

"If your dog's going out anywhere with you - whether that's to someone else's house, or at a barbecue, or a picnic in the park - just be really careful. A lot of people keep food in places that they wouldn't normally, like in your handbag, or under the tree, or as in my case, on the kitchen table."

Animal lovers can still spoil their pets without feeding them human food, Vigeant said.

"At the SPCA we take PURINA ONE pet food and freeze it or put it into toys so they can gradually extract the food. A walk or games in the garden after a big meal is also a great way to make sure your pet gets the attention they need and to fight your own after-meal lethargy."

The SPCA advised pet owners who believed their pet had eaten something it shouldn't to immediately call their vet.

Purina also has a team qualified New Zealand vet nurses who can provide nutrition advice over the phone during business hours on 0800 PET VIP.

What not to feed your cat or dog

• Alcohol and coffee are both toxic to dogs
• Avocados contain the toxin persin, which can make dogs vomit, give them diarrhoea or heart congestion
• Chocolate can increase dogs' and cats' heart rates, and cause seizures, vomiting and diarrhoea
• A toxin found in macadamia nuts can slow down movement and cause panting, weakness and swollen limbs
• Disulphides and sulfoxides in onions and chives can make pets anaemia and damage red blood cells
• Peaches, plums, apples and persimmons pips all contain a substance that breaks down to the poison cyanide
• The artifical sweetner xylitol, common in sugar-free food, is dangerous to dogs
• Sweet-corn cobs can cause blockages in the small intestine that may need to be removed surgically