Dogs, cats and birds can get in trouble eating trick or treat offerings, exploring decorations and fleeing from ghouls. Beware of the following treats that can turn your Halloween into a real-life nightmare:

1. Diet treats: It may seem like a nice health-conscious idea to offer sugar-free candy, gum and cookies flavored with xylitol, but don’t. And be sure to check your child’s bag for such treats and make sure they’re out of your pets’ reach. Xylitol can cause a radical drop in blood pressure, liver damage and death, and it doesn’t take that much. A 22-pound dog that eats just one gram of Xylitol needs veterinary treatment. Its effects in cats and birds have not been reported, but don’t be the one to find out.

2. Chocolate: Chocolate, especially dark and baker’s chocolate, contains theobromine. Theobromine has a small stimulant effect on humans, but a huge one on dogs, causing shaking, seizures, increased heart rate and death. Milk chocolate has approximately 44 mg of theobromine per ounce, semisweet chocolate about 150 mg per ounce, and baker’s chocolate about 390 mg per ounce. A lethal dose for dogs is considered about 50 to 100 mg per pound; cats and birds are even more sensitive, but tend to have less of a taste for chocolate.

3.   Raisins and grapes: Some dogs appear to be able to eat raisins and grapes with no ill effects, but in other dogs, they can cause kidney failure and death. The reason isn’t understood, but as little as 0.3 ounces of grapes per pound and 0.05 ounces of raisins per pound have caused kidney failure. In other words, a 50-pound dog could be poisoned by eating two ounces of raisins. A few cases have been reported in cats, probably because cats aren’t big grape and raisin eaters. Birds appear to be unaffected.

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