Angie’s List Report: Disaster-Proof Your Home for the Holidays
(WDEF) When decking the halls, don’t forget to child and pet-proof them too.
Your Christmas tree can be the biggest danger of the season.
Angie Hicks of Angie’s List said, "If you have small children or pets it could be a really good idea to anchor your tree. Otherwise, you might walk into the room and find your tree is toppled over. You can do that really easily with a little hook and some twine connected to the ceiling or the wall behind the tree."
Kent McCool is a child safety expert. He said, "There are gates you can use to kind of surround the tree. If you got little ones that are crawling you wanna be concerned with the smaller type of ornaments, choking hazards."
For pets, make electrical cords as unappetizing as possible.
Dr. Tom Buchanan is a veterinarian. He said, "The area of wire that you have to expose use a little bit of lemon juice or bitter apple, something on there just to dissuade them. But again, I’d keep it unplugged when you can, but otherwise just put some kind of a bitter tasting product on the exposed wires."
Take special care to avoid decorations that are sharp or breakable and avoid trimmings that resemble candy or food.
Hicks added, "Around the holidays you introduce a lot of different choking hazards to your children and for pets. So, think about packaging material, plastic sleeves you might be using, as well as bows and wrapping paper. So, just be sure you keep things up and off the floor."
When you’re done decorating, it’s always a good idea to double check your disaster-proofing efforts.
McCool added, "You know getting down on your hands and knees. Kinda seeing things from their perspective. When a baby starts crawling you’d be surprised what you might see that could be dangerous to them."
Holly berries and mistletoe can also be toxic to dogs and cats. While poinsettia plants have a bad rap, they’re only mildly toxic.
Your Christmas tree can be the biggest danger of the season.
Angie Hicks of Angie’s List said, "If you have small children or pets it could be a really good idea to anchor your tree. Otherwise, you might walk into the room and find your tree is toppled over. You can do that really easily with a little hook and some twine connected to the ceiling or the wall behind the tree."
Kent McCool is a child safety expert. He said, "There are gates you can use to kind of surround the tree. If you got little ones that are crawling you wanna be concerned with the smaller type of ornaments, choking hazards."
For pets, make electrical cords as unappetizing as possible.
Dr. Tom Buchanan is a veterinarian. He said, "The area of wire that you have to expose use a little bit of lemon juice or bitter apple, something on there just to dissuade them. But again, I’d keep it unplugged when you can, but otherwise just put some kind of a bitter tasting product on the exposed wires."
Take special care to avoid decorations that are sharp or breakable and avoid trimmings that resemble candy or food.
Hicks added, "Around the holidays you introduce a lot of different choking hazards to your children and for pets. So, think about packaging material, plastic sleeves you might be using, as well as bows and wrapping paper. So, just be sure you keep things up and off the floor."
When you’re done decorating, it’s always a good idea to double check your disaster-proofing efforts.
McCool added, "You know getting down on your hands and knees. Kinda seeing things from their perspective. When a baby starts crawling you’d be surprised what you might see that could be dangerous to them."
Holly berries and mistletoe can also be toxic to dogs and cats. While poinsettia plants have a bad rap, they’re only mildly toxic.
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