A dog owner was left £550 out of pocket after discovering her two pets had eaten mince pies – a treat that can be extremely toxic to animals.
Amanda Whyte, 48, faced every pet owner’s worst nightmare after a near-fatal poisoning last Christmas, the same day that her purse had been stolen.
The magazine editor, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, found her black Labrador Lola, aged 11, and her Jack Russell Beagle-mix Spotty, 7, had devoured a platter of mince pies.
“It all started when my children came home with mince pies they’d made at school to celebrate breaking up from the Christmas holidays”, said Amanda, a mother of two.
“Despite leaving them up high on a table where I thought they’d be out of reach, I ended up finding the two dogs sniffing around the crumbs and realised they’d eaten the lot.
“It’s every dog owner’s worst nightmare. I know that raisins are extremely toxic to dogs and can cause kidney failure, so I headed straight to the emergency vet.”
Vomiting was induced to minimise the damage where it turned out that only Lola had actually eaten the mince pies.
Amanda then had to monitor both dogs at home after they both had the sickness injection.
She has pet insurance with AnimalFriends but as it was a “basic plus” level, it didn’t cover emergency appointments and she had to pay £150 of her own pocket plus an excess of £50 of the £547 it cost to treat them.
However, as her purse had been stolen earlier that day, she was unable to pay at the time and had to return several days later to settle up.
“My purse had been stolen in Aldi earlier that day with all my cards in it. When I got home that evening, I found the dogs had eaten the mince pies, so I jumped in the car and headed straight to the emergency vet.
“I realised I had nothing to pay them with, and they weren’t my normal vets, but luckily they were fine about it and I was alright to come in a few days later to pay.”
Amanda’s not alone, as research from MoneySuperMarket reveals a third of dog owners have taken their dog to the vet at Christmas, with emergency trips to the vet twice as likely in December compared to any other time of year.
It found that, despite the risks, 21 per cent of dog owners – around 2.5 million dogs – do not have pet insurance. A third say it’s too expensive amid the cost of living crisis, while 13 per cent said they haven’t got round to it yet.
This is despite the estimated average price of taking your dog to the vet due to festive dangers, such as eating mince pies, costing £1,263. This rises to an average of £1,513 when the emergency appointment fee of around £250 is included for treatment during out of hours Christmas holidays.
Amanda said: “Thank goodness I had insurance. Christmas is expensive enough as it is – so getting a vet bill for over £500 would not have been a welcome gift. The dogs’ insurance now also covers emergency appointment fees.”
She banned mince pies for a couple of years after but said her family is now aware that no cakes of any sort should be left where the dogs can eat them.
What dangers are there to dogs at Christmas?
It is not just mince pies that can be dangerous for dogs to ingest. There are a number of items, most often found at Christmas, that are hazardous:
1) Chocolate, whether under the tree or left out for guests, is incredibly toxic to dogs and by far the most common reason dog owners had to rush to the vet, costing an estimated £2,504 to treat. In severe cases, chocolate consumption can cause seizures and heart failure.
2) Port and Stilton should also be off the menu for our four legged friends. Dogs consuming alcohol, which they cannot metabolise, and eating cheese, which can cause serious vomiting and diarrhoea, were among the most common vet visits, costing between £200 and £250 to treat.
3) Among the most expensive treatments dogs frequently need at Christmas is foreign body surgery after swallowing hidden turkey bones, which can cost upwards of £1,000.
4) Tinsel presents a choking hazard that could cost you £3,000 so be careful where you leave the festive decoration at home.