Staff Report

Halloween can be a traumatic and even dangerous time for your pets. Oklahoma City Animal Welfare has some tips to help keep your pets safe while you’re having Halloween fun.

· Don’t leave pets in the yard. Pranksters often target animals for teasing or worse on Halloween.

· Don’t share trick-or-treat candy with pets, and keep it away from where pets can get to it.

· Be careful with your pets around candle-lit jack-o-lanterns. Pets, especially curious kittens, can burn themselves or knock them over and start a fire.

· Make sure any pet costumes aren’t constricting, annoying or unsafe. This is especially important if it restricts the pet’s vision.

· Don’t take your pet trick-or-treating. Not everyone is comfortable around animals, and many animals are uncomfortable in new environments.

· Most dogs will be safest if kept in a different room during trick-or-treating hours. Too many doorbells and excited, noisy strangers in strange costumes can be stressful or scary to a dog.

Chocolate is poisonous to many animals, and candy wrappers can be harmful if swallowed.

· Be careful to watch for pets darting out open doors. Be sure your pet is wearing a tag and/or has a microchip with current information. If you can’t find your pet, go to www.okc.gov/animalwelfare to file a report and visit the Animal Shelter at 2811 SE 29.

Stay in touch with the City and Animal Welfare, which will have numerous outreach and adoption events this fall:

·        Sign up for the Animal Welfare Tails and City of OKC News newsletters.
·        Follow Animal Welfare on Twitter and Facebook.
·        Follow the City of Oklahoma City on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and more.
·        Watch City Channel 20 on Cox Cable or live anywhere on YouTube.