Page 5 - Animal Care Trust - Christmas Catalogue 2015

Festive foes for furry friends
Look out for your pet over the forthcoming holiday season and make sure it’s fun for all the family, including the furry members! Just follow our tips on eliminating festive foes below to help keep your furry friends safe and happy.
• Fireworks – These explosive beauties can be a source of fear for many
animals. Help keep your pet calm by giving them a safe place to hide in the
house, if they want to, and leave them in peace when they are hiding there. Keep dogs and cats inside during rework season, walking dogs in daylight hours wherever possible. When reworks start, close curtains and have music or the tv on to mask the noise. For small furries who live outside, cover cages so that they are sound-proofed and give extra bedding so that they can burrow.
• Food – With all the treats available at Christmas it can be tempting to share with your pets, but too much rich food isn’t good for animals and some festive favourites are toxic to dogs, such as chocolate, grapes, sultanas and raisins. Cooked bones from roasted poultry are also dangerous for cats and dogs, as they can become stuck in their throats or even pierce their intestines.
• Flowers - Watch out for the many Christmas plants that are poisonous to pets, including yew, holly, mistletoe, ivy berries and poinsettia.
• Frozen water – Keep dogs close around frozen ponds and lakes as thin ice can break under a dog’s weight. Also watch out for dogs’ paws becoming impacted
with snow, which can cause discomfort.
• Fields and fences – Any horses or ponies spending time outside in the winter need to have adequate shelter in their eld and access to fresh water. With wet and windy conditions it’s advisable to perform regular checks to ensure all fencing is secure during the winter months.
Celebrate your pet this Christmas with an ACT Celebration Star
Our pets give us so much joy, so this Christmas we are giving our supporters the chance to celebrate the life of their much-loved pets through personalised star-shaped decorations, complete with your message. The Celebration Stars will adorn Christmas trees in our animal hospitals throughout the
festive season, spreading a little joy to the poorly animals and their families visiting us over the festive period.
In return for a small donation of £5 for a silver star or £10 for a gold star, your Celebration Star can acknowledge the loving memory of a pet you have sadly lost, or can simply be a celebration of how fantastic your pet is! All funds raised will support the brilliant work of
RVC hospitals and help improve the welfare of the animals we care for.
To order a celebration star, please use code ACTCS5 or ACTCS10 on your order form (please write your message of maximum 90 characters on a separate sheet) or you can order online. For further information,
please visit our website www.rvc.ac.uk/act or call 01707 666314.
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