Thanksgiving brings the foods that fill veterinary hospitals every October: fatty turkey skin and gravy, cooked bones, onion and garlic in the stuffing, grapes and raisins in the salads and desserts, and sugar-free baking made with xylitol. One rich plate can be enough to inflame a pancreas. Feed your pet their own meal and keep the table out of reach.
Why the long weekend is different from a normal Sunday
Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday of October, which this year is the twelfth. For most Dunbar households that means a full house, a long afternoon of cooking, and a dog who has never once counter surfed suddenly finding the kitchen much more interesting.
The change is not really the food. It is the geometry. Plates sit at nose height on coffee tables, guests who do not live with animals hand things down under the table, a carcass cools on the counter for hours, and the bin ends up stuffed with skin, string and bones. Cats, who usually ignore the kitchen, will investigate a turkey sitting unattended.
The pattern is consistent, and it is almost always one of three things: a guest, a counter, or a bin.
The foods that matter, and why
Fatty scraps, skin and gravy
This is the big one. A sudden load of rich, fatty food can inflame the pancreas, and it is the problem most associated with holiday meals. It shows up as repeated vomiting, a painful belly, a hunched or praying posture, refusing food, and a dog who will not settle. Small breeds and dogs who are already carrying extra weight are more prone, but any dog can develop it. It usually starts within a day or two of the meal.
Cooked bones
Cooked bones splinter. That gives us broken teeth, cuts in the mouth and throat, bones wedged across the roof of the mouth, blockages in the gut and, at worst, a perforation. A tooth cracked on a bone is easy to miss, so mention it at your next visit and our dental services team can take a look. The turkey carcass in an accessible bin is the classic version of this story.
Onion, garlic, leek and chives
These are in the stuffing, the gravy, the casseroles and the sauces, and they damage red blood cells. Cats are especially sensitive, and small dogs need less than people expect. The signs are often delayed by a few days: weakness, pale gums, fast breathing, reduced appetite, sometimes discoloured urine.
Grapes, raisins and currants
Fruit salads, stuffing, butter tarts and baking all hide them, and they can injure the kidneys. There is no amount that is considered reliably safe, and sensitivity varies enormously between dogs, so any quantity is worth a phone call.
Xylitol and sugar-free baking
Xylitol, sometimes labelled birch sugar, causes a rapid and dangerous drop in blood sugar in dogs and can injure the liver. It turns up in sugar-free pies and whipped toppings, in some peanut butters, and in mints and gum left in a coat pocket by the door. Read labels on anything described as sugar-free or keto.
Chocolate and rich desserts
Darker chocolate carries more of what causes the problem. Desserts also bring cream, butter and sugar, which take us back to the pancreas.
Alcohol and raw bread dough
Glasses left on low tables are easy for a dog to reach, and alcohol affects pets quickly. Raw dough proving in a warm kitchen is worse: it expands in the stomach and ferments, producing alcohol at the same time.
The things that are not food
Cooking string, netting, the plastic pop-up timer, foil, skewers and the absorbent pad from the underside of the bird all get swallowed along with the flavour they carry. String and ribbon are particularly serious in cats, because of the way they travel through the intestine.
A calmer plan for the day
- Feed your pet at the same time you eat. A full bowl and a stuffed chew keeps them busy while the plates are down.
- Brief your guests before the food arrives. One sentence at the door saves ten corrections at the table. Nothing from the table, please.
- Put the bin somewhere real. Outside, in the garage, or behind a latched door. A pedal bin is not a barrier.
- Never leave the carcass unattended on the counter, not even while you clear the table.
- Give them their own version. Small amounts of plain unseasoned turkey meat with no skin and no bones, a spoonful of plain cooked pumpkin with no spice blend, or a few green beans or carrot sticks are fine for most healthy pets.
- Walk the dog before the guests arrive, not after, so the afternoon starts with a tired animal.
- Set up a quiet room with water, a bed and the door shut for any pet who finds visitors stressful, and tell guests it is out of bounds.
- Watch the front door. Arrivals and departures are when pets slip out unnoticed.
If your pet is on a specific feeding plan, or is carrying weight that makes a rich weekend riskier, that is exactly the kind of thing our nutrition counselling service is for. It is easier to plan the holiday food in advance than to undo it afterwards.
When to phone rather than wait
Call us the same day for repeated vomiting, a tense or painful abdomen, a hunched posture, unproductive retching, weakness, pale gums, difficulty breathing, collapse, or any known ingestion of grapes, raisins, xylitol, onion-heavy food, chocolate or cooked bones. Our urgent care team would rather hear about it early, when the options are widest.
One practical note for the long weekend: we are closed on Sundays and statutory holidays, so on Thanksgiving Monday itself, please contact the nearest open emergency hospital. Have that number saved in your phone before the weekend starts, alongside ours.
If the plan involves travelling or leaving your pet with someone else over the weekend, the preparation in our guide to boarding or a pet sitter in Dunbar is worth reading a couple of weeks ahead rather than the night before.
Cats get their own paragraph
Cats are less likely to raid the bin and more likely to steal from the counter, especially raw or cooked poultry left out. They are more sensitive to onion and garlic than dogs, and string from the roast is a genuine emergency for them rather than a nuisance. A cat who has become withdrawn, is refusing food, or is vomiting repeatedly after the holiday should be seen rather than watched, because cats who stop eating for more than a day can develop separate problems of their own.
Frequently asked questions
Can my dog have turkey?
Plain cooked turkey meat, in a small amount, with no skin, no bones and no seasoning, is fine for most healthy dogs. The problems come from the skin, the gravy, the stuffing and the bones, not the meat itself. If your dog has a sensitive stomach or an existing health condition, keep to their normal food.
My dog ate the turkey bones out of the bin. What now?
Phone us straight away and do not offer food or water until you have spoken to someone. Do not try to make your dog vomit, because bones can do as much damage coming back up. We will want to know how much, what size and when.
How much chocolate is a problem?
It depends on the type and your dog’s weight, and dark chocolate and baking chocolate are far more concentrated than milk chocolate. Rather than working it out at home, phone us with the wrapper and your dog’s weight and we can talk it through.
My cat licked the gravy off a plate. Should I worry?
A lick of gravy is more likely to cause a stomach upset than an emergency, but the onion and garlic content is the part to mention when you call, because cats are sensitive to those and the signs can appear several days later. Watch for lethargy, pale gums and fast breathing.
Is pumpkin pie all right for dogs?
Not really, no. Plain cooked pumpkin is fine, but pumpkin pie is mostly sugar, cream, butter, spices and pastry, and it may contain xylitol if it is a sugar-free version. Keep the pie, give the plain pumpkin.
What if my pet seems fine the next morning?
Most will be. The ones to keep watching are the pets who ate something fatty, because inflammation of the pancreas often takes a day or two to declare itself, and the ones who ate onion, garlic, grapes or raisins, where the signs are genuinely delayed. Any vomiting that repeats, or a pet who goes quiet and off their food, deserves a call.
Speak to the team at Alma Animal Hospital
If your dog or cat has eaten something from the Thanksgiving table, phone us and tell us what and when. On the holiday Monday itself, when we are closed, contact the nearest open emergency hospital.
Published by the team at Alma Animal Hospital.
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for an in-person veterinary examination or advice about your individual pet. If you have an urgent concern about your pet, contact Alma Animal Hospital or your nearest emergency veterinary hospital right away.
Alma Animal Hospital
3151 Dunbar St, Vancouver, BC V6R 3C2
Phone: (604) 229-5564
Hours: Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM; Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Sunday and statutory holidays closed