The New Year holidays are the peak season for out-of-hours clinics. The reasons repeat every year, and nearly all of them are preventable.

Food from the table

Chocolate is dangerous for dogs and cats — the darker, the worse. Grapes and raisins can cause acute kidney injury in dogs, and the dose cannot be predicted. Onion and garlic in any form, including sauces and salads. Xylitol, the sweetener in gum, sweets and "sugar-free" baking, is extremely toxic to dogs.

Alcohol, even a sip, even "just to try". Chicken and other poultry bones: they splinter. Fatty food is the classic second-of-January visit: pancreatitis from a piece of duck or a mayonnaise salad.

Tell guests not to feed the animal. Asking people works better than trying to watch everything.

The tree and decorations

Stand the tree securely and ideally fix it to the wall — cats bring them down. Tinsel is the worst hazard: swallowed strands do not pass through the gut and often end in surgery. If there is a cat in the house, skip tinsel entirely.

Hang glass baubles out of reach. Hide light cables in a conduit: a puppy chewing a live string of lights means burns to the mouth, and worse.

The water in a real tree's stand is not drinking water — it contains resin and additives. Block access.

Fireworks

Fear of loud noises is not a whim. A dog will not "get used to it" if you take it outside during the barrage; it only gets worse.

Prepare ahead. On 31 December walk properly before dark. In the evening and on 1–2 January, go out on a short lead with a secure harness the dog cannot back out of: the overwhelming majority of New Year strays are dogs that bolted in fright.

At home, close the windows, draw the curtains, put the television or music on — steady background sound masks the bangs. Make a refuge: an open carrier, the space under a table, the bathroom — wherever the animal chooses. Do not drag it out and do not fuss over it: calm presence helps, agitation does not.

If your animal panics to the point of shaking, soiling itself or breaking doors every year, talk to your vet in advance, in December. Medication exists for exactly this, but a vet chooses it, and not on the 31st.

A few days before

Check that the ID tag on the collar is legible and that the microchip details are current. New Year's Eve is the single most common night of the year for animals to go missing.