In fact, chocolate is as closely associated with Valentine’s Day as giving flowers and exchanging cards.  But we have to be aware that dogs and cats should not share in our sweet treats.

Chocolate has an active ingredient, theobromine, which is toxic to cats and dogs. It has a caffine-like affect. Some of the potential toxic effects of theobromine include vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, drooling, and heart arrhythmias and seizures. The symptoms usually show up about 6- 12 hours after eating the chocolate.

Always safely secure any chocolate products where your pets cannot get to them. Several years ago, some friends went to Europe and brought back some chocolate items as presents. The chocolate was boxed and these boxes were inside other boxes. Their dogs could smell the chocolate and tore into the boxes to get to the candy.

And don’t forget that cats are susceptible to chocolate toxicity, also. Because of their tendency to get to chocolate products, many articles on chocolate focus on it’s toxicity to dogs, but cats can also be affected.

If you think your pet has ingested chocolate, try to get an idea of the amount eaten, and the type of chocolate. Milk chocolate is much less toxic than cooking or baking chocolate.  Less than one ounce of baking chocolate can be lethal to a 10 pound dog.

Call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Poision Control Center at 1-888-426-4435. There is also a web site, http://www.askavetquestion.com/chocolate_toxicity.php, which has a chocolate toxicity calculator for dogs. You put in the dog’s weight, the type of chocolate eaten and the amount, and it tells what symptoms to expect and if an emergency trip to the veterinarian is recommended.

You can get more information on chocolate toxicity from registering on our website and going to the “Pet Health” page and clicking on “Illustrated Articles” and searching for “chocolate”.

The book of Job says “For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward.” But when trouble comes looking for you, it sure helps if you HAVE taken all the precautions you are supposed to.

This concept was brought home to me recently by the experience of one of our good clients. Hearing barking outside, he went to investigate and found a skunk in his fenced-in backyard. The skunk was acting in a bizarre manner and one of his dogs was barking at it.  The skunk then went out of the yard by going under the fence. But then the skunk came right back in.

Not knowing what had occurred before getting outside, our client dispatched the skunk. Animal control was called, and the skunk tested positive for rabies. We examined both dogs and it appeared that the skunk had not bitten them.

Our client had done everything right. His dogs were controlled in a fenced-in yard and they were current on their rabies vaccination, which means our client was in compliance with all county and state laws. But trouble still came looking for him. I asked if he would mind me sharing his experience, to help our other clients.

Over the years, I have heard a lot of excuses people use for not getting their pets vaccinated for rabies. One of the most frequent has been “but my pets are in a fence and never leave”. What they forget is that sometimes, rabies comes looking for your pets. Unless your fence can keep all other animals OUT, your pets are at risk of being exposed.

And this can include totally indoor pets, such as cats. Tragically, in December of 2011, a middle-aged woman in South Carolina died from rabies. Health officials now believe that she was exposed to rabid bat in her own home.

Why is it so important to vaccinate your pets?  No only is their health at risk, but YOUR health is at risk, too. Rabies is a virus that affects the nervous system, including the brain. If a person is exposed and receives post-exposure prophylaxis, the chance of successful treatment is high. However, if a person develops symptoms of the disease, there is very little chance that any treatment will prevent death. There have only been a handful of people in history who have survived rabies after showing symptoms.

Around the world each year more than 55,000 people die from rabies, mostly in countries too poor to be able to provide post-exposure vaccination.

What happens if your pet is unvaccinated and exposed to a wild animal that has rabies?  According to the Georgia Rabies Control Manual, that pet should be euthanized.

And does the wild animal have to test positive at a lab?  No: “Any animal potentially exposed to rabies virus by a wild, carnivorous mammal or a bat that is not available for testing should be regarded as having been exposed to rabies.”

Any decisions about what happens to a pet that is unvaccinated, or not up-to-date on vaccines, is up to the Rabies Control Officer of the county; it is not a decision that your family veterinarian can make.

So the easy solution to this potentially deadly problem:  Make sure all your pets stay current on their rabies vaccination.

At Family Pet Clinic, we keep a computerized record of when your pet was vaccinated, and which specific vaccine was used.  Also, we use our computerized system to send you a letter, e mail or text to remind you when you pet is due again for vaccination.

Let us help you dot all the “i”s and cross all the “t”s involving your pet’s health care.  And so when trouble comes, it won’t be any worse than necessary.

Because trouble will come.  In the words of the Outlaw Josey Wales: “Sometimes, trouble just follows a man”.

When my kids were younger I loved to look at the picture in Highlights magazine with all the hidden objects in the drawing. (I still like to look at them today if I can do so without being observed by another adult). Discovering hidden objects in a picture is always fun.

In order to point out some of the potential problems the holidays might create for our pets, I thought I would present a picture what contains some of these hidden dangers.

This picture shows my brother, John, and myself on December 25th, 1958. The younger, more handsome lad is me. Unfortunately, my parents never anticipated that if we had just left the train engine and fire truck in the original boxes, and not played with them, that they would be worth a fortune today. Too bad they didn’t have the antiques road show back then!

So lets start looking for the hidden dangers to our pets that are in plain sight on the Christmas tree.

1. Electric lights and cords. Many times puppies will chew on cords, especially newly placed ones. Even cats can have this tendency.
2. Glass ornaments can be broken and sometimes even eaten by both cats and dogs.
3. Tinsel and ribbon can be especially dangerous to cats. They love to play with these items, but also they have an alarming tendency to swallow them. Because of the complex nature of a cat’s digestive system, after these are swallowed, many times they will not pass on through the intestinal tract, but instead create a blockage. This may require surgery to correct.
4. The water placed in the tree holder of live trees will become stagnant and bacteria infested. Dogs love to drink something like this, and will many times develop diarrhea from it.
5. It is not in plain view, but knowing my family, somewhere on that buffet in the background, is a box of Russell Stover chocolate. Chocolate can be very toxic to dogs and cats. Also, many sugarless products contain xylitol, which is toxic to dogs.
6. That train engine and fire truck were pretty substantial, but stuffed toys, sometimes even those sold as pets toys, can contain small parts, which pets can swallow. Dogs especially have a tendency to tear apart toys and swallow anything inside.
7. Make sure that tree stand is substantial. Those old stands from the 50’s had an alarming tendency to tip over. Newer stands are better, but you still need to make sure an inquisitive pet does not easily tip over your tree.

Other potential problems during the holidays include visitors feeding “people” food to your pets. Foods that pets are not used to, especially fatty foods, can cause big problems. Some “people” foods can be toxic to pets. Many holiday plants, especially holly and mistletoe can be toxic if ingested.