🧧🐇 Gong Xi Fa Cai! Or in other words, Happy Chinese New Year! This is a very special event that’s best spent with loved ones, including your fur babies! Even though the ancestral worship ritual day has passed, yummy offerings are probably still around the house. If you’re wondering what can be shared with your little paw friends, you should probably check what type of food is off-limits for the little ones. 🤔 MyFriend’s got your back! Let’s have a look.

Five Lucky Fruits (Orange, Banana, Pineapple, Grapes, and Dragonfruit)

From five lucky fruits, banana, pineapple, and dragonfruit are beneficial for pets if given in small portions. However, citrus fruits like oranges or grapefruit are acidic. They can cause digestive problems and irritation.

Grapes are the most dangerous and toxic for our furry friends among the traditional five lucky fruits. These seemingly innocent grapes can cause kidney damage and failure. If you suspect that your pets have eaten some grapes, please take them to the vet immediately. Even if it’s a tiny amount! That’s all it takes to do dangerous damage.

Traditional Sweets and Desserts

Traditional Chinese sweets and desserts are often made of sugar and flour. Full of excess calories for pets (and us as well, as pawrents 🤭). High sugar levels can cause upset stomach, vomiting, gas, and overall discomfort. Additionally, nuts are also a popular ingredient used in traditional Chinese desserts. They have high amounts of fat that can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and in worse-case scenarios, even pancreatitis! So better keep an eye out.

Tea and Liquor

There’s always tea and liquor poured into a tiny cup at the offering table. It would be best to keep those cups out of reach! Theobromine and caffeine are two substances in tea that can poison your pet and can cause panicking, diarrhea, vomiting, seizures, or loss of consciousness.

Liquor is always off-limits for our little fur babies. Alcohol can cause dizziness, vomiting, lower body temperature, central nervous system depression, and shortness of breath, amongst other horrible symptoms. One should never give a furry friend any alcoholic beverages. If your pet accidentally drinks it, immediately bring them to the veterinarian!

Bones

Most people think that bones are great treats for pets, but the truth is they are not! Unlike what cute cartoons lead us to believe, these bones crack into shards when they are chewed and could harm your pet’s mouth, teeth, and throat. In the worst-case scenario, it can also obstruct the digestive system.

These are some off-limit food for pets that our house might be filled with during the Chinese New Year celebration. Make sure all of these yummy treats are out of their reach! Chinese New Year is a time when we celebrate our ancestors, have fun with our family, alongside our paw friends, and… receive a lot of red envelopes! 👀🧧

We wish you a prosperous, fortunate, and healthy life! The MyFriend team hopes the new year treats you with kindness, and that you will live happily with your trusted companion for years and years to come!

• Check out more tips for preparing our furry friends for festivities in this article! 

This article is reviewed by the veterinarian from Small Animal Teaching Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University (CUVET)

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