While Halloween is a very exciting time for both children and adults, there are some challenges for our little pets at this time of year. There are also a number of things pet owners can do to help keep their cats and dogs safe at Halloween.

What’s interesting is most of the problems around Halloween come back to our cats and dogs’ original ancestors being predators with very, very, acute hearing.

It’s this acute hearing that is the problem at Halloween.

Pets should be kept in a quiet place in the house

The loud noises – the bangers and the fireworks – really send our pets crazy. So what can you, the reader, do to help them? The answer is to alleviate the noise.

When noise is starting to build up you need to have your pets in a secure place that is as soundproof as possible. What happens is pets get frightened and they take off – they escape and run.

Pets should be kept in a quiet place in the house, it could be the utility room, but somewhere that doesn’t have windows preferably.

There is a difference in breeds, particularly in dogs. Some breeds tend to be more frightened than others

It’s mostly at nighttime these fireworks go off, so putting on a radio with some soft music at nighttime is a good idea. The competing noise helps.

There is a difference in breeds, particularly in dogs. Some breeds tend to be more frightened than others. There are natural calming agents that you can get in your pet shop or your vets that sometimes help. You can give these to your pet over Halloween.

They are the main things – somewhere quiet, competing with the noise and having your animal somewhere secure so they can’t escape.

The other thing around Halloween that is important to highlight is that if your dog does escape, it’s a legal requirement for every dog to be microchipped. If you are unfortunate enough to lose your dog but it gets to a pound, vets or a pet shop, all of these have scanners.

Just remember your pets – dogs in particular – while they will eat chocolate, it’s very toxic to them

They will scan the microchip and get your identification information. It’s really important for people to have their pets microchipped.

Finally, the last word on Halloween is that it’s a great time for treats and chocolate. Just remember your pets – dogs in particular – while they will eat chocolate, it’s very toxic to them. Just be careful, keep the treats out of the way of the doggies.

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