It’s that time of year again, when the jack-’o-lanterns and out-of-control-cobwebs take over the neighborhood. Halloween is a great time to play dress-up, scare yourself silly, and overindulge in too many treats. However, as with many holidays, your pets see it quite differently, and in fact, can become quite stressed out and even a target for threatening and dangerous activities.

We offer up six tricks to help you ensure your pets get nothing but treats (but not too many) this Halloween.

1) Keep your Halloween candy to yourself

We’re all for sharing, but not in this case. Candy, especially chocolate, is toxic to animals and can cause stomach upset, vomiting, restlessness, heart disturbances, and even death.

• Just a few ounces of chocolate can kill a 10-pound dog, because it can over-stimulate the neurological and cardiac systems.
• Beware of candy wrappers and foil because they are a choking hazard to dogs, cats and domestic rabbits.

If you want to treat your pet to something more special than his usual biscuits, pay a visit to your local pet store or doggy bakery and pick up some dog-specific Halloween treats! He won’t share with you, so why share your candy with him?

2) Don’t encourage a friendship between your pets and your Jack-O’-Lanterns

If your pets are anything like mine, they want to be part of everything you’re doing, especially if it’s new and interesting. Don’t carve pumpkins on the floor, with your dogs and cats sitting next to you. It would be all too easy to have an errant slip of the knife cause a terrible injury to an overly curious cat or excited dog. If you’ve managed to successfully carve your pumpkin, then make sure you place it out of your pets’ reach. Candlelit jack-o-lanterns are objects of interest for both dogs and cats, and your smiling pumpkin could become a firestarter in no time if it gets knocked over. We all know what curiosity did to the cat… their paws are small and love to reach inside little holes for moving, dancing objects (flames), they can jump high, and more cats than not are fascinated by fire. Prevent injury and tragedy this Halloween and confine either your pets or your fires (or both, just not together!), and make sure you always supervise any open flames, including candles (any time of year).

3) So you’ve decided to embarrass your pet (with a costume). Fine. Just make sure it fits. And take it off quickly.

The Humane Society insists on making sure your pet costume fits your pet well and doesn’t have any binding or constricting elements, which could cause your pet to trip or block his vision. If a costume is too big, the animal could suffocate or become entangled or strangled in it. If the costume is too small, it could obviously impede his circulation or breathing. After all, your pet isn’t going to enjoy being “in costume” as much as you will enjoy seeing him in it, so the least you can do is make sure he’s as comfortable as possible.

• Never leave your pet unattended when he’s in costume. Pets can become injured or worse in trying to extricate themselves from costumes – unless your pets are used to wearing clothes, costumes are uncomfortable, restrictive things, akin to traps, that they need to get themselves out of.
• The best option is to dress your pet for a quick photo and then take the costume off, as suggested by the Humane Society.
• Costumes with rubber bands should never be worn by pets because they are not only uncomfortable, but also dangerous. Rubber bands mistakenly left on a pet can quickly burrow into the animal’s skin and cause injury and even strangling.
• Finally, if your pet is struggling and obviously hating being in costume, don’t force him to wear it. The last thing you want is to cause stress and anguish for your furry friend, which could result in a lash-out of frustrated aggression, from even the nicest pet.

4) Frighten the trick-or-treaters, not your pets

Pets that are easily excitable (doorbell barkers, we’re talking to you!) or scared by strangers (hello kitties!) should be kept in a room or quiet part of the house that is protected from the excessive activity and noise that is bound to occur from trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. Costumed kids screaming “trick-or-treat!” are cute to you, perhaps not so much to your dog or cat!  All pets should be kept away from the front door so they can’t bark at or bite anyone, or run into the street. With so many strangers visiting the home in even stranger attire, even normally calm pets might overreact.

5) Stay indoors and watch a scary movie together. You’ll be the only one to get scared. As it should be.

If you’re going to go for a walk on Halloween, it’s probably the best idea NOT to do so when the trick-or-treaters are out roaming the neighborhood. Loud and crazy-costumed trick-or-treaters could provoke fear and aggression in even the nicest pet. Why stress him out? Go for a walk in the morning or afternoon and then have him curl up with you on the couch at night. You might get scared by Paranormal Activity, but he won’t. If you have to take him out for a walk in the evening, just make sure you keep him on a shorter than normal leash.

It’s really important that you don’t leave your pets outside and unattended on Halloween, not even in your fenced yard. This is a night where strangers are given free license to roam neighborhoods, traipse through yards, ring doorbells, play pranks, and worse. Many animals disappear as pranksters and those with darker intentions tease, abduct, torture, or even kill pets.

The usual warnings abound about black cats, who are frequent targets of cruel activities on Halloween. It’s best if you keep your cats indoors all year round, but especially during Halloween week. Though Snopes.com determined that there was inconclusive evidence whether Satanic rites involving cats were “a real, widespread phenomenon, or largely a self-perpetuating Halloween myth” it did note that some people acquire cats to use as “living decorations” around Halloween, only to discard or abandon them afterwards. Out of an abundance of caution, many animal shelters make black cats unavailable for adoption the week before Halloween.

6) Play tag with your pet

It’s a good rule to follow regardless of the time of year: your pet should wear his ID tags and collar at all times, with updated contact information including your phone number, vaccinations and license. During times of hectic activity, including parties with its frequent comings and goings, as well as the constant door opening due to trick-or-treaters, your pets may dart outside through open doors, even if you tried to follow trick #4 above. Microchipping your pet is a great second line of protection, should he not be wearing his collar, or in case it comes off of him somehow.

The best thing to do for your pets this Halloween is to adopt similar tactics that you’d use when moving.  Your pets rely upon their safe and comfortable daily routine to make them feel secure and happy and are stressed with any upset to this routine. Protect their well being and emotional health! Confine your pets to a single “safe room” where the comings and goings of trick-or-treaters or party-goers won’t give it a chance to escape, or, if it is fearful by nature, will not scare him. Just make sure he has his favorite toys with him, and maybe a special new treat of his own.