Halloween Safety Tips for Pets and Wildlife

Halloween brings spooky fun for humans, but for pets and wildlife, it can be confusing, dangerous, and even life-threatening. Costumes, candy, and festive decorations may seem harmless, but they can pose serious risks to animals if we’re not careful. Just a few Halloween pet safety precautions can help you make sure the holiday is a safe time for all species.

Protecting Your Pets on Halloween

Pets face a range of hazards during holiday festivities. Here are some important Halloween safety tips for pets:

Keep Halloween Treats Out of Reach

Many popular Halloween treats are dangerous to pets:

Chocolate is toxic to both dogs and cats and can cause vomiting, diarrhea, or worse.
Sugar-free candies made with xylitol can cause rapid insulin release and liver failure in dogs.
Raisins and macadamia nuts are also highly toxic to pets.

To avoid accidental poisoning, store candy securely in closed containers and keep treat bags away from curious noses and paws.

Use Pet-Friendly Costumes with Caution

While pets in costumes may look adorable, not every animal enjoys dressing up—and full-body costumes can be overwhelming. Stick with simple options like bandanas, capes, or festive collars, or skip the costume altogether. Whatever you choose, keep Halloween costume safety in mind for both pets and people:

Costumes should never restrict movement, breathing, vision, or hearing.
Avoid pet Halloween costumes with small or dangling parts that could be chewed off and swallowed.
Try the outfit on your pet before Halloween to make sure they’re comfortable in it and that it doesn’t cause them stress.
Always supervise your pet while they are wearing a costume in case they get tangled, overheated, or try to chew it off.

If your pet shows signs of discomfort or anxiety, it’s best to skip the costume altogether.

Be Mindful of Decorations

Glow sticks, fake cobwebs, and electric cords can pose serious hazards:

Cats may chew on cords or tangle themselves in hanging decorations.
Dogs may be drawn to lights, candles, or small objects that they can ingest.

Keep decorations out of reach, and never leave pets unsupervised around lit candles or jack-o’-lanterns.

Secure Pets Indoors During Trick-or-Treating

The noise and excitement of trick-or-treaters can be frightening for pets, especially when people wear masks or costumes. This stress can lead to anxiety or unwanted behavior. To keep pets safe, consider setting them up in a quiet room away from guests and trick-or-treaters. Be mindful that some pets may try to slip out the door while you’re handing out candy, so take extra precautions to prevent escapes. This is especially important when thinking about Halloween cat safety.

Keep pets in a quiet, secure room away from the doorbell and costumed visitors to prevent stress or escape.
Make sure your pet has ID tags and a microchip with up-to-date contact information in case they get loose. Consider attaching a small, comfortably fitting GPS or Bluetooth tracking device to their collar to make it easier to find them if they do escape.

Protecting Wildlife During Halloween

Remember that raccoons, rabbits, opossums, and other wildlife species may be poking around your property long after you turn out the porch lights. Here are some Halloween wildlife safety tips:

Use Wildlife Safe Halloween Decorations

Halloween can be a spooky good time for humans—but it can be confusing, dangerous, or even deadly for the wild animals who live among us.

Avoid loud noises from motion-activated decorations, soundtracks, or scream machines which can frighten and disorient nocturnal animals like owls, raccoons, foxes, and bats.
Limit bright or flashing lights, which interfere with natural sleep cycles and can disrupt feeding and migration—especially in animals that rely on darkness to survive. Even motion-activated lighting can be harmful, especially if it uses harsh white or blue tones.
Skip the synthetic spider webs, string lights, and hanging decorations, which can entangle birds, bats, and other wildlife, causing injury or worse, especially when placed near trees or shrubs where animals naturally shelter or forage.

A few ways to keep things festive and wildlife-friendly:

Use non-audio and non-lighted decorations like fall garlands or scarecrows.
If you use sound or light effects, turn them off by bedtime or set a timer.
Choose warmer-colored bulbs and avoid strobe or flashing lights.
Keep synthetic spider webs indoors, and place wires or hanging décor away from bushes and tree limbs.
Hang decorations higher off the ground, and always remove them promptly after Halloween.

With just a few small changes, you can help keep Halloween fun for people and safe for the animals who call your neighborhood home.

Pick Up Candy Wrappers and Treats

Discarded candy can attract unwanted wildlife, and it may also be toxic to animals or cause choking:

Candy wrappers and plastic packaging are not digestible and can block an animal’s digestive system in life-threatening ways.
Sweets can encourage wildlife to become too accustomed to human food, which can cause poor nutrition and even poisoning as well as altering their natural foraging behaviors.

Be sure to clean up any trash or food left outdoors, especially after trick-or-treating.

Keep Pumpkins and Gourds Off the Ground

While some wildlife may nibble on carved pumpkins, these can grow moldy quickly and cause illness if ingested:

Moldy or fermented pumpkin can harm raccoons, squirrels, or other mammals.
Instead of leaving them on porches or lawns, compost old pumpkins responsibly or dispose of them securely.

Halloween can be fun without putting animals at risk. By being mindful of what you hand out, how you decorate, and where your pets are during the festivities, you can make the night safer for pets and local wildlife alike.

Ways You Can Help Animals Even More This Halloween

You can do more to protect animals this October by using your festivities for good. Instead of (or in addition to) traditional Halloween plans, consider hosting a fundraiser for pets and wildlife. 

You can help homeless companion animals, your favorite wild animals, or both when you use tools provided by organizations such as the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), which operates pet shelters and a wildlife rehabilitation center. It’s easy to set up an online fundraiser and plan virtual or in-person activities around it. You can also get your social networks involved in a supply drive. This year, treat yourself and animals to a happy Halloween!

Keep Pets Safe This Halloween with PAWS

At PAWS, we’re dedicated to helping cats, dogs, and wildlife thrive—whether that means finding a forever family or returning to their natural habitat. We achieve this by rehabilitating injured and orphaned wildlife, sheltering and adopting out homeless cats and dogs, and educating our community to inspire compassionate action.

For more than five decades, PAWS Companion Animal Shelter has led the way in providing expert, compassionate care for animals in need. Our PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center operates an emergency hospital and specialized recovery facilities designed to rehabilitate sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife, helping them recover and return to the wild.

Since 1967, PAWS has united more than 170,000 cats and dogs with loving families, cared for more than 160,000 wild animals, and made the world a better place through education and advocacy. However, we can’t do it without you. Please consider making a donation today!