Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1037255
9 6 | M A C O N M A G A Z I N E O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8 Have a safe Howl-o-ween BY AC PUP | PHOTO BY ROBIN GATTI NEWBERN AC Pup is the mascot for Central Georgia CARES, a nonprofit animal welfare organization in Macon. Contact AC Pup at acpup247@yahoo.com. H alloween is almost here! It 's time to shop for my new costume and pose for my Howl-o-ween pictures. I can't decide if I want to be a superhero or a dinosaur – it 's all so much fun. Even though my mom lets me get a costume and pose for pictures, she absolutely will not let me participate in the festivities for my own safety. Have you ever thought about how dangerous Halloween can be for your pets? Halloween can be spooky and terrifying for us with ghosts and goblins and creatures with scar y masks lurking around our door. Even worse, Halloween can be deadly for animals. Most folks have never thought about the hazards this holiday presents for their beloved pets or safety measures that need to be in place to keep their pets safe and secure. A few safety considerations should be made before Halloween night. The first is to keep the Halloween candy completely out of reach of kitties who can jump on kitchen counters – and dogs who can reach the counter – fishing for something chocolate, which may be deadly to your pet. The same precaution should be made with anything sugar free. Don't let your pet have any sugar-free candy, gum or anything containing Xylitol, which is found in sugar-free items. And don't let him near the candy bucket. Educate your children on the dangers of sharing their candy with the family pet before Halloween night. Another safety measure that needs to be implemented before Halloween is to protect any black animal – dogs and cats included. I see an increase in missing black animals in the weeks leading up to Halloween, so keep yours safely inside before and during the holiday. Dogs confined to a fence or chained to a tree are A C P U P particularly vulnerable to harmful Halloween pranks. Please bring them inside to make sure they 're safe. However cute your pet looks in his costume, please do not take him trick-or-treating with you. Realize he may be scared of the creepy costumes people are wearing, the flurr y of activity and noisy kids, and he may run away. The chance of your pet literally being spooked and escaping is too great. Leave your pet at home in an enclosed room away from an exterior door. Since the exterior door will be opened frequently, make sure your pet cannot escape from his enclosed room. Pets do unpredictable things when they 're scared, so keep them safely tucked away from the evening's activities. Even though you're going to keep your pet confined, make sure he has on a legible ID tag and is microchipped just in case he escapes. Take a look at the engraving on the ID tag to make sure it hasn't worn off and you can read the information. Also check to make sure the hole where the tag connects to the collar is not thin and brittle. Halloween can be fun for the kids. But this is one holiday in which your pets do not need to participate. Please keep them safe!