Halloween Safety Tips

HALLOWEEN SAFETY TIPS

Fright and delight on All Hallow’s Eve

    (ARA) — Halloween is a season that brings jack-o-lanterns to front porches and spiders, super heroes and princesses to the streets.
    This year, add to the ghoulish atmosphere with a few safe and healthy tricks that will make your book of spells the most popular on the block.

    Lanterns Lead the ‘Spooky’ Way: Safety comes first on Halloween when you are welcoming trick-or-treaters to your haunted mansion. Always maintain a well-lit area to prevent accidents and to monitor ghosts and goblins as they approach.
    Use pumpkin-inspired paper lanterns to do the trick. Have the kids draw jack-o-lanterns on paper lunch bags, cut out the eyes, nose and mouth and add several inches of sand to the bottom of each bag. Place a small votive candle in a glass jar, position on the sand and light for an eerie trick-or-treat experience.
    Fright Light: Whether your costume is scary or sweet, always wear lightweight and lightly colored clothing and remember to carry a flashlight to navigate through the dark night. Try adding a recognizable patch or reflector to a child’s costume to make sure they are easily spotted.
    ‘Boo’ in Your Basket: According to the National Confectioners Association (www.CandyUSA.org), 93 percent of children go ”trick-or-treating,” making candy the focus of the door-to-door Halloween ritual.
    So why not give some special attention to the way you pass out your candy selection?
    Make your treat bowl the most memorable in the neighborhood and give it a costume of its own. Decorate your treat basket with a witch’s broom and hat or create a ghostly silhouette with a white cloth covering a round table. Costumes are no longer just for kids.
    Gummy Mummy: Choosing which candy to pass out is a tough decision. NCA surveys reveal that kids’ favorite treats are candy and gum.
    Give trick-or-treaters what they want this year and fill your bowl with Life Savers Halloween Gummies. Kids love them for their adventurous flavors and gummy texture and parents like the lower calorie, fat-free treat option. You can also use gummies to top seasonal cupcakes, cookies and cakes.
    Carry in Style: Making a one-of-a-kind trick-or-treating bag with inexpensive materials is a fun way to involve kids in Halloween preparation.
    Grab an old pillowcase or bag and let kids decorate it to match their costume or favorite Halloween creature. Adding designs is easy with fabric paints, ribbon and buttons.
    Cook before they Collect: In addition to choosing a guilt-free treat for trick-or-treaters cook a wholesome meal before sending your goblins and ghosts into the night. Serve a Halloween themed meal like grilled cheese sandwiches cut into tombstone shapes with an enchanted forest of broccoli. Add ”Boo” and ”R.I.P” in ketchup to make them smile.
    Sending your trick-or-treaters out on a full stomach will prevent them from over eating their Halloween goodies.
    “Chews” Gum: After the kids sample their basket treats, suggest they chew gum. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), chewing sugar-free gum, like Eclipse, Orbit or Extra, helps reduce tooth decay.
    Let the kids indulge a little during the special holiday, but don’t forget the importance of oral hygiene and brushing and flossing your teeth before bed and after every meal. They’ll need those fangs again next year.
    Courtesy of ARAcontent

Helping pets through Halloween

    (ARA) — It was early November, and Dr. Gregory S. Hammer, a veterinarian in Dover, Del., was treating a miniature poodle that was very sick. So sick, in fact, that it was suffering from seizures.
    After a detailed examination of the pet and a conversation with the pet owners, Dr. Hammer determined that the cause of the animal’s problem was chocolate consumption poisoning. This case occurred a few days after Halloween, and the pet had been left at home all day with ready access to Halloween candy.
    Dr. Hammer estimated that the dog consumed the candy that morning, and by the time the pet’s owners returned home in the evening, it was already too sick to recover. The dog died a short time later.  This isn’t the only patient that Dr. Hammer has lost due to chocolate poisoning, especially after Halloween. Sadly, it’s relatively common.
    That’s why Dr. Hammer, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), advises all his clients to take caution during holidays when there may be sweets around the house, particularly Halloween. Holidays are a lot of fun for families, but may be dangerous and stressful for animals, particularly dogs.
    Dr. Hammer says that Halloween candy is unhealthy for dogs in two ways: with chocolate toxicity and with bowel obstructions. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs. The darker the chocolate, the more deadly it is. That’s because it’s the cocoa — which some researchers say is beneficial for people to consume —  that is the deadly ingredient for dogs. Baker’s chocolate is the most dangerous type because it has the highest content of cocoa.
    But even if candy isn’t chocolate, it can still be potentially deadly for dogs. For instance, an over excited dog may swallow a  whole candy, resulting in a bowel obstruction a few days later. “Obviously, the solution for that is to put the candy up,” Dr. Hammer says.
    “Many children like to come home after going house to house on Halloween and dump their bags out on a coffee table or on the floor to see what they have got. Put the candy away in a cabinet. Do not leave it unattended.”
    Dr. Hammer notes that among his clients he’s noticed that dogs most commonly suffer unduly with stress on Halloween. Naturally protective of their home, dogs are sensitive to having many strangers stop by for a short visit on the front stoop and frequent ringing of  the doorbell. Cats, alternatively, may be a little scared on this holiday, but they generally deal with it by hiding until it’s over, Dr. Hammer explained.
    For dogs that do find Halloween overwhelming, Dr. Hammer said that there are types of anti-anxiety medications available.“Sometimes I advise clients that an anti-anxiety medication is a good idea for a dog that is having troubles on Halloween, and sometimes a tranquilizer can help the animal deal with it,” Dr. Hammer says.
    “Sometimes to avoid a problem with a dog that gets into property damage due to stress, it’s advisable to board a pet on Halloween to avoid that anxiety,” Dr. Hammer says.