In order for you and your pets to have a safe holiday season, please keep the following in mind.

Holiday Decorations and Items

The Seven Most Tempting Objects for Your Pet to Swallow

If you ever saw the agony of a dog or cat after swallowing a holiday decoration, you'd never forget it. December brings a sharp increase in veterinary visits prompted by an animal swallowing a foreign object or eating a poisonous plant. Poisonings are the easiest for you to prevent. Just don't have poinsettias or mistletoe in your house. It's tougher, but vitally important, to protect your dog and especially your cat from tempting holiday decorations and wrappings.

Avoid the seven most dangerous holiday decorations

• Edible garlands like popcorn and cranberry chains
• Mistletoe and poinsettias
• Baked edible decorations
• Tinsel
• Yarn or thin ribbon (any type that your cat loves to play with can accidentally be ingested)
• Mylar (Cats love to watch, play with and, unfortunately, eat this shiny material)
• String, especially from a roast beef, often will entice a cat and become wrapped around the root of the tongue, with the free part trailing down the esophagus into the stomach. You can imagine the discomfort this causes.

Even more serious is when the string or yarn is swallowed. It can lodge in the intestinal tract. The intestine tries to expel the foreign body by increasing its rhythmic contractions, but because the string has such a small diameter, the intestines cannot move it. The intense contractions often result in the intestine folding upon itself like an accordion. The affected area can die, causing a system wide infection and death. Emergency surgery must be performed before the intestine begins to disintegrate.

When to Seek Medical Care

Seek immediate veterinary care for your cat or dog if you see any of these signs:

• No appetite or depressed appetite for more than two days
• Excessive vomiting
• Restlessness and abdominal distress (tucked up abdomen)
• No bowel movement for two days
• Bloated or distended abdomen
• Pawing at mouth

Pick up gift wrappings of yarn and string so your cat cannot get them. Hang any questionable ornaments on the upper branches or out of reach of your animal.

Safe Holiday Checklist

Keep your dog away from electrical cords. If you find your dog chomping on one, immediately pull the plug from the socket.

Stick to your dog's dietary routine. Holiday indulgences like bones and chocolate are emphatic "no nos."

Monitor interactions between your guests (especially children) and your dog. Set up a quiet, secluded sanctuary so your dog can "get away from it all."

Prominently post the phone numbers of your primary care veterinarian, your emergency animal clinic and the National Animal Poison Control Center (1-800) 548-2423 next to each telephone.

Clean up any pools of leaked antifreeze (highly toxic to dogs) in the driveway or garage.

New Year's Resolutions

Our pets depend on us for everything, so take a look at this list of resolutions and pick one or two that will be beneficial for you and your best friends!

Resolve to take at least one extra "just for fun" walk in addition to the necessary ones with your dog every week and really just enjoy your time together. Your pets might not understand everything you say, but they do love to know that you're talking just to them.

Resolve to put your dog in the car and drive to a different neighborhood for a stroll. Your pet will find it really interesting to enjoy a whole new array of sights and scents.

Resolve to sit down and go over all of your pet's medical records, just to be sure everything is up to date - and make an appointment right away if any vaccines or tests are overdue.

Resolve to spend at least 15 minutes several times a week reinforcing your dog's response to the basic commands -- sit, down, stay, wait, come -- to be sure that his good manners don't lapse.

Resolve that for all the love and joy that your pet brings to you, you'll do something in his or her honor for less fortunate animals. Donating dog or cat food to your local shelter is an easy, yet meaningful way gesture.

If you give it a few minutes, you'll think of many other ways to make the new year a special one for you and your pets. And you'll reap tangible benefits too -- like getting more exercise and lowering your blood pressure, to name a few. Happy New Year to all our human and animal friends!