We have all seen them – Ghosts and Goblins and Fairies and Witches – hanging around our favorites stores, that is, on hangers for sale, as Halloween costumes begin to find their way to the homes where the kids who will wear them are gearing up to go trick-or-treating and acquire as much candy as their bags will hold.

While parents want their kids to have fun on Halloween their first concern is for the safety of their children. But children are not the only ones who need protection and to be kept safe on Halloween.

Halloween can be a traumatic and even dangerous time for your pets. You can make sure that your pets are safe on Halloween by following some common sense tips to protect them:

Don’t leave your pets out in the yard on Halloween: there are plenty of stories of vicious pranksters who have teased, injured, stolen and even killed pets on this night.

Trick-or-Treat candy is not for pets: while they may try and make you think they should have some of the yummy Halloween candy you collected, chocolate is poisonous to a lot of animals, and tin foil and cellophane candy wrappers can be hazardous if swallowed.

Be careful of pets around lit pumpkins: pets may knock it over and cause a fire. Curious kittens especially run the risk of getting burned. So best not to leave any candles or lit pumpkins unattended with your pets nearby .

Don’t dress the dog (or cat) in a costume unless you know he or she loves it. Otherwise, this puts a lot of stress on the animal. If you do dress up the dog (or cat), make sure the costume isn’t constricting, annoying or unsafe.

Be careful not to obstruct his or her vision, even the sweetest dogs and cats can get snappy and scarred when they can’t see what’s going on around them.

All but the most social dogs and most all cats should be kept in a separate room during trick-or-treating visiting hours, too many strangers in strange garb can be scary for dogs and cats as their vision is different than ours and how they see things and perceive shapes and objects that usually make up Halloween costumes. Besides that they do not know or understand that it is only trick-or-treaters and that everything is ok with the strangers at your door one after the other. Also, keeping your pets in a room other than where the door is that the trick or treaters will come to will prevent any chance of your cat or dog darting out an open door.

While taking Baxter, Max, Snoopy or Jake with you as you trick-or-treat door after door down the block seems like a good idea, it can lead to bad consequences should your pet get loose off the leash. With all the strangers that your dog would likely pass while with you if you take them trick-or-treating your dog could become scarred and bite someone out of fear or break off the leash. Should your pet get away from you for some reason and it is already scarred you risk him or her running away and getting lost or worse getting hit by a car and being hurt very badly or even killed. Leaving your dog at home will keep him or her safe.

Remember that our pets depend on us to take care of them and this includes keeping them safe.

Kandice Cassidy

Austin