The evenings are getting darker and Mother Nature’s paintbrush has just begun

to sweep the edges of the leaves, tinging them festive orange, cheerful yellow and crispy brown. It’s a great time for taking a walk in nature: breathing in the crisp, clear air; stomping with giants’ feet through the fallen leaves; and watching the low mist creep across the fields, if you’re up early enough.  As we slide our sandals into cupboards and shine up our boots, our stomachs turn their thoughts to soups, stews and bakes.  Many of us look forward to the calendar’s next event: Halloween.

Halloween can be great fun for young and old. But what about our furry friends?

Halloween can throw up some dangers for our pets, some of which we might not expect.  Try these top tips for keeping your Halloween 100% pawfect and clawsome.

• Walk your pooch earlier in the day. Once dusk falls, trick-or-treat-ers may start to emerge and the stream of small folk in flappy suits and masks might unnerve your pet. Don’t forget your eco-friendly poop bags – we don’t want to be adding any extra ‘tricks’ to the pavement 😊

• Keep your pets indoors that evening. Halloween pranks, even those that mean no harm, can be frightening to pets in gardens or cats out for a stroll at night.  Consider shutting your pet in a room away from the front door and perhaps put the radio or TV on to help lessen the impact of noisy doorstep visits.

• Keep your black cats safe. Unfortunately, Halloween pranksters have been known to pick on black cats on Halloween night. Play it safe and lock your cat flap – it’ll be much nicer on your warm lap anyway.  Don’t forget to provide a litter tray for your pet and to have some compostable poo bags ready for clearing up 😊

• Keep decorations away from pets. A tasty pumpkin might smell good but we don’t want any singed noses from the tealights inside them!

• Keep ‘treats’ for humans out of reach of your pets. Tasty morsels such as raisins, chocolate, grapes and some sweeteners can be poisonous to pets.  Contact your vet straight away if they consume any of these.

• Lastly, think about the impact of your own Halloween on the planet. Let’s help keep the fun zero-waste and plastic-free wherever possible.  Charity shops are a great place to recycle costumes and decorations and it’s kinder to your wallet too.  Your used pumpkin is 100% compostable: pop it into your food caddy, home compost or, if you can keep it away from your pet (don't let them eat the mouldy fruit!), have fun watching it biodegrade naturally in your garden… spooky!  

Photos by Melanie Fermor