It may seem strange that dogs (who many believe to be carnivores) can have a bad reaction to eating meat, but the culprit here is an overdose of fat, which can cause pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is actually one of the most common illnesses that vet clinics are inundated with at Christmas time.

Why does this happen? Leftover ham, sausages, or the fatty offcuts from a Christmas turkey contain a lot more fat than your dog's body is used to ingesting in one go. In an effort to digest all this fat, the pancreas can quickly go into overdrive and become painful, inflamed, and swollen in a condition called pancreatitis. Pancreatitis can cause vomiting, nausea, dehydration, and worsening illness. It can even leave your dog with a lifelong sensitivity to fat, and you will be left having to feed them a special therapeutic diet for the rest of their life. Best to resist the urge to 'treat' your dog and save the meat for your own leftover lunch on Boxing Day!

Whether they're part of a fruit cake, within a delicious slab of boutique chocolate, or just as a tasty treat on their own, macadamia nuts are highly poisonous to dogs. While the exact cause of the toxicosis is unknown, signs of macadamia nut poisoning include an inability to walk or stand, wobbly gait, tremors, hyperthermia, and vomiting. If encased in their shell, they can also pose a risk as a gastrointestinal foreign body. Yikes! Be sure to keep these crunchy morsels out of reach!

Often found on Christmas day within a fruit cake, fruit platter, or as part of a spiced meat sauce, grapes and their dehydrated versions can actually cause kidney failure in cats and dogs. The exact mechanism of this is unknown, so it is impossible to calculate a universal toxic dose. Best to keep them out of reach!

Just like small children, cats and dogs are much more sensitive to alcohol than adult humans and can become poisoned very quickly. Alcohol is absorbed rapidly by the canine and feline body, and symptoms may include ataxia (walking wobbly), vomiting, decreased body temperature, loss of consciousness, or difficulty breathing.

If you'll be roasting some onion or garlic along with your Christmas turkey, best to also keep these away from your pets as they contain a toxin which can cause damage to your dog's red blood cells. If enough red blood cells are destroyed, your dog could become anaemic, lethargic and weak.

While they're not a food, we thought we'd include Lilies in our list, as many people give and receive flowers around the holidays. Lily flower petals, pollen and leaves are extremely toxic to cats. The toxin found in Lily plants causes kidney failure. If possible, do not keep lilies in your house if you have a cat - it's just not worth the risk!

Most pet owners these days are fairly clued in to the dangers of chocolate in pets. Chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine, which are both toxic to cats and dogs as they can't metabolise these compounds as well as humans can. Dark chocolate poses a higher risk than milk chocolate. Signs of chocolate toxicity may include vomiting, diarrhoea, seizures, tremors, and coma.

The risk of chocolate toxicity directly depends on your pet's weight, how much they ate, and how dark it was. If your pet has ingested chocolate, you can calculate their risk of toxicity by inputting their weight, the type of chocolate, and how much was ingested into an online chocolate toxicity calculator.

1. Treats to keep them occupied

Occupier treats are the perfect option for keeping your dog out of the way on Christmas day (and particularly during Christmas lunch!). Keeping your pet away from the table is perhaps the safest option if you don't trust members of your family not to sneak them some food under the table. ('But he looked like he was hungry! I didn't know that he would start vomiting! It was only a handful of ham fat and half a slice of chocolate cake!').

The range from Nature's Cuts contains natural offcuts such as Goat Horn, Beef Ears and Pork Lung Bites. Their range of ears is particularly varied, with With Pork, Beef, and Lamb ears available - there is something for every sized pooch. Not only will these keep your dog occupied for hours and provide a great distraction from your Christmas lunch, but they're generally byproducts from the meat industry - making them a more sustainable option compared to other types of treats.

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