A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
If you have a lot of Thanksgiving leftovers, you may be wondering what foods are safe for your pet to eat. Michael Bailey is president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. He says this time of year there's often a surge in emergency trips to the vet.
MICHAEL BAILEY: Many of the things we indulge on are not safe for the pets.
MARTÍNEZ: So let's start with the Thanksgiving leftovers that your pet should avoid at all costs. Chocolate - that should be an obvious one. That can be toxic to dogs and cats. If your dog eats chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, Bailey recommends calling poison control immediately. Unseasoned turkey with the fat and the skin removed is OK. But...
BAILEY: There's also the bones that are in the turkey itself, what the pets would love. However, they splinter, and they can lead to blockages in the GI system or even get stuck in the throat.
MARTÍNEZ: Then there are ingredients that show up in many Turkey Day staples - onions, garlic, leeks, chives.
BAILEY: They can all cause GI problems, and they can cause anemia, especially in cats.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So those are the dangers. Now to the pet-safe Thanksgiving food options - raw cranberries cut up and in moderation, apples with the seeds and core removed. And...
BAILEY: Plain green beans or carrots, plain canned pumpkin, not pie filling, the pumpkin itself, which can actually aid digestion, but in small quantities, and small amounts of mashed potatoes before you've put the butter or the sugar or the marshmallows in them.
MARTÍNEZ: This year, MORNING EDITION producers Ana Perez and Julie Depenbrock decided to give their pets a little taste test.
JULIE DEPENBROCK, BYLINE: Bentley (ph).
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLING)
DEPENBROCK: Here you go.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG EATING)
MARTÍNEZ: That's Julie's 2-year-old dog, Bentley, snacking on some apple slices. She also offered him a couple of spoonfuls of canned pumpkin puree.
DEPENBROCK: It's not pumpkin pie mix, which is an important distinction.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPOONING PUMPKIN PIE MIX)
MARTÍNEZ: All right. Luckily, Bentley did not mind.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG EATING)
MARTÍNEZ: Wow. Bentley going to town there.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAT MEOWING)
MARTÍNEZ: Ana and her husband, Aaron Baker (ph), fed their two cats, Kimbra (ph) and Lila (ph), some sweet potatoes. Here's Aaron.
AARON BAKER: I boiled sweet potatoes until they were soft enough to mash, and then I spread it on a plate.
MARTÍNEZ: Sometimes, though, these healthy snacks may not be appealing to every pet.
ANA PEREZ, BYLINE: Lila, come try.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAT EATING)
BAKER: Well, one of them likes it.
MARTÍNEZ: If your cat doesn't like Thanksgiving leftovers, but you still want to give them a treat, just pet them. They love it.
(SOUNDBITE OF VINCE GUARALDI TRIO'S "THANKSGIVING THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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