From time to time I answer reader’s questions. Please keep in mind that I am not a veterinarian — you should always contact your vet if you have any questions about your pet’s medical care. If you would like to ask a question, please use the information at the bottom of the column. And Merry Christmas!

Question: My dog ate several foil-wrapped Hershey’s Kisses from a bowl on a low table. He never acted sick and so we did not take him to the vet.

Should I have, or should I now?

Answer: Fortunately, milk chocolate isn’t nearly as problematic as dark or baker’s chocolate, which can be fatal. (It takes one-half pound, or about three candy bars’ worth, of milk chocolate to poison a 10-pound dog but only one ounce of baker’s chocolate.) But chocolate in any quantity is not safe for pets. If your dog is going to suffer problems from eating chocolate, you’ll likely know it fairly quickly. Symptoms include shaking, vomiting, diarrhea and seizures. If any of these things happen, or even if your pet just doesn’t seem quite right, it’s very important to see the vet.

Often, pets ingest a large or unknown quantity of chocolate and you want to do something right away to make sure it’s not serious. The first step is to induce vomiting. Not fun, I know, but it’s important to remove as much chocolate from the pet’s system as possible. If you have syrup of Ipecac, you can use that to induce the vomiting. Give up to three teaspoons depending on the size of your dog. No Ipecac? Try 3 percent hydrogen peroxide, which most people have on hand. You can give 1 or 2 teaspoons orally every 15 minutes until the dog throws up.

Once the pet has vomited, use charcoal mixed with water to absorb any remaining poison. Activated charcoal is a good product to have in your first aid kit. Use 1 teaspoon for a dog under 25 pounds and 2 teaspoons for a dog over that weight.

Then, get the pet off to the vet for a complete checkup. If anything seems problematic, or if your dog is showing continued symptoms of poisoning, the vet may need to keep the animal overnight.

If you cannot reach your veterinarian by phone for help, you can try the National Animal Poison Information Center at (888) 252-7387. Be prepared to pay a small fee for the consultation (they accept credit cards).

The best bet: Eliminate your chances of spending the holiday at the emergency vet — or at least worried about your sick pet — and keep all chocolate safely out of reach.

Q: Our dog recently discovered the delicacy of raiding the cat’s litterbox. We use clumping litter and the dog got a blockage. After getting vet care, he’s okay, but what do we need to do to keep him away from the cat box?

A: Once a dog has started getting into the cat box, it’s hard to get him to stop. It’s disgusting to us humans, but dogs seem to regard cat feces as a great delicacy! But besides the health problems for the dog, your cat is unlikely to appreciate the invasion and may even stop using the box. Your best bet is to put the box in a place where only the cat can get to. That might be someplace high, or it might be in a room that the dog can’t access. Some people have luck using a baby gate that the cat can jump over but that contains the dog; other people put the baby gate a few inches off the floor so the cat can get underneath it.

You can put a box with a small opening, which the cat can get into but the dog can’t, around the litterbox. Another idea is to use two boxes, a larger one on top of a smaller one, with openings cut in opposite sides. Your cat can get in the first opening and scoot around to the second opening; your dog won’t be nearly as nimble.

Finally, there are products that you can sprinkle on your cat’s food to make its feces taste terrible to the dog. One such product is called Forbid. I’d suggest you talk to your vet to make sure it’s safe for your cat; even though it’s to be given on a temporary basis, it contains high levels of sodium that may not be appropriate for every cat.

As a “just in case” measure, you might also choose to switch to a non- clumping variety of cat litter. If the dog still gains access, at least he will be less likely to get a blockage.

Q. I now live on my own and I would like to get a pet. But a cat or dog just doesn’t appeal to me — I want something different. What do you suggest?

A. You need to think about your lifestyle and what kind of pet would be a good fit. Are you home a lot or gone except to sleep? Are you very active? Are you a night person? Do you have a household budget that can include special food and supplies for an exotic pet?

You’ll also want to make sure you can find a vet for any kind of pet you might choose. So, sugar gliders or chinchillas are different and interesting pets but it can be easier to find a vet that knows a bit about their care than, say, a fennec fox or a prairie dog.

Whatever kind of pet catches your interest, make sure you learn as much as you can about its care, lifespan and socialization needs.

Purchasing a pet on a whim is never a good idea, and it can be hard to find a suitable home for an exotic pet if it turns out to be a bad fit for you. Try to talk to some people who own the kind of pet you are considering or chat with a rescue that specializes in exotics or the animal you would like. That can tell you a lot about what it would be like to live with such a pet.

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