CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – The Super Bowl is one of the biggest football games that takes place every February.

During the time when attention is focused on the touchdowns and plays, cheers, and snacks, pets can get into all kinds of things they shouldn’t be getting into. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center lists the top five exposures on Super Bowl Sunday.

Alcohol

Adult beverages are an important part of the celebration for most people, so glasses may be unattended while people are busy watching the game or grabbing more food. “We see a large number of drunk dogs,” an APCC consulting veterinarian reports. Alcoholic drinks and yeast dough can cause toxicity in pets. Ethanol intoxication from either dough or drinks can cause ataxia, depression, recumbency, hypothermia, disorientation, vocalization, acidosis, tachycardia, dyspnea, aspiration pneumonia, tremors, coma, and seizures.

Garlic and Onion

Raw, cooked, or powdered, garlic and onion can spice up a menu, but they can hurt a pet who ingests them. Both of those foods can cause Heinz body anemia and secondary renal injury if enough is ingested, and cats are highly sensitive to allium toxicosis, though it is seen in dogs as well.

Cannabis

It is common for pets to get into marijuana and marijuana brownies on game day. APCC Medical Director Dr. Tina Wismer noted that edibles make marijuana more enticing to dogs since they often smell and taste like regular food. Cats, however, are more attracted to marijuana in its bud form. Depression, ataxia, mydriasis, bradycardia, hypothermia, and urinary incontinence can occur if animals are exposed to it. Pets exposed to marijuana may have other signs such as agitation and tachycardia. Seizures and comas, although not common, may occur as well. 

Rich Food

Buffalo chicken wings, creamy dip, pizza, chocolate desserts, and oily chips are just some of the foods that can cause pets to have pancreatitis-inducing characteristics.

Human Medications

Many callers to the APCC reported that a pet grabbed medications out of a guest’s pocket or purse, or something was dropped on the floor during the game. “We get a disproportionately high number of calls about acetaminophen, NASAIDs, and dextromethorphan on Super Bowl Sunday,” the APCC veterinarian reported. Some examples of common medications that pets could get into are cold and flu medications, cough drops, antibiotics, Ibuprofen, and more.