Pet concerns over Morrisons' Christmas advert
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The Kennel Club has joined the veterinary profession and other dog welfare organisations in expressing serious concerns over a Morrisons Christmas advert showing a child feeding a dog from the dinner table.
The Kennel Club fears that people may put their dogs’ lives at risk by allowing them to eat certain ingredients commonly found in Christmas food, echoing concerns expressed by the BVA, BSAVA and the Poisons Unit among others.
Kennel Club Health and Information Officer Nick Sutton said: “As a part of our family, we all enjoy including our dogs in our Christmas celebrations. However, chocolate, raisins, grapes, sultanas, avocados, onion, garlic, leeks, artificial sweeteners and even nuts can be potentially lethal to dogs.
“It is easy to forget that these foods are poisonous to dogs, especially as they are something that we can eat without any problems. As the Morrisons advert depicts, children often feed their dogs with food from their plates. By exposing children to this advert, it may encourage them to copy this behaviour and inadvertently poison their beloved pet dog.
“It is important that the whole family is aware of the need to be extremely careful when feeding human food to dogs and we urge all dog owners to educate their entire family of this danger. We ask that Morrisons take action by no longer showing this advert and educate their customers about the potentially lethal effects of feeding Christmas pudding and other Christmas treats to their dog.”
Grapes, raisins, currants and sultans can be highly poisonous to dogs. The number of cases of this type of poisoning always increases around the holiday season, when Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, stollen and mince pies are more readily available.
It is not known why this type of fruit is toxic to dogs, or even if there is a predictable toxic dose. Some dogs have developed kidney failure, or even died, after eating a very small amount; therefore dogs should not be fed these fruits under any circumstances.
Clinical effects may not be apparent for two to three days and treatment is intensive and prolonged. Early contact with a veterinary surgeon has been associated with an improved outcome and so it is vital that dogs that have eaten any quantity of these fruits be taken to a veterinary practice immediately.
Nick Sutton added: “Dogs should not eat our Christmas dinner; there are plenty of wonderful dog foods available for a Christmas treat, so there is no need to leave your dog out of the celebrations.”
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