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Monday is Halloween, although those of you with jobs will likely have to make do with dressing up as a sexy nurse or lifeguard over the weekend.

Chuck in your pooch wearing some bat wings and a spooky hat and you’re almost guaranteed to crack 50 likes on Instagram.

All in all, a humble day’s work.

Ask the British Veterinary Association (BVA) for their thoughts on the matter and you might be in for a nasty surprise, reports The Telegraph:

Vets say forcing animals to wear costumes, a trend that has been popularised on social media, may not only give the pets themselves a scare but leave them unable to defend themselves or evade other predators.

“Dressing up animals or otherwise unnaturally changing their appearance is not only unnecessary and potentially harmful, but in some cases can also prevent pets from expressing their natural behaviours and from using their body language to communicate. Some costumes may also prevent pets from regulating their body temperature properly and breathing freely, which is especially a concern for flat-faced dogs like French bulldogs and Pugs.”

That last quote is from Justine Shotton of the BVA.

A reminder that your French bulldog, while very cute, is unlikely to live a very long life.

Eddie Clutton, a professor of veterinary anesthesiology at the University of Edinburgh, really went in for the jugular:

“Would you dress your child up to look stupid and have people comment on its being ‘Dracula the Dog’? It’s not really treating dogs as dogs and cats as cats,” he said.

Image: Flickr / Kerri Lee Smith

“If you went to visit your granny with dementia in a care home, would you dress her up as a witch?”

Sheesh, Eddie, I can’t believe you brought our grans into this.

Halloween parties, where pets are surrounded by many unfamiliar faces dressed in masks and makeup and so on, can be a very stressful time for them.

The RSPCA also joined in with a few warnings via the BBC:

Pet clothes that serve a practical purpose are useful they said, such as if it’s incredibly cold or if the animal needs to be prevented from licking a wound.

“But it’s important your pet is comfortable so it’s a good idea to avoid anything which stops them behaving like they usually would, causes them to overheat, restricts their movement, or traps them,” the animal charity explained.

There’s your excuse for dressing as a nurse or lifeguard again this year, too. “I didn’t want to overheat or feel restricted so that’s why I’m wearing this incredibly revealing outfit.”

Good for you, but maybe leave your pets out of it.

[sources:tele&bbc]