A Safe Christmas for Kitty

Christmas and all the decorations and trimmings that go with it are more than appealing to cats, especially kittens and young adults. So with all that fun and frolic come the accompanying hazards, but a little forethought can make all the difference to keeping it a safe time for your cat or kitten.

The tree itself is a magnet - something to climb and hide out in and under, maybe even chew on some of the needles (if it is a real tree) or synthetic lookalikes if it is an artificial tree. Either way, your cat cannot help itself but to be drawn to this fun addition to the home. Putting a tree out of reach of the cat is not really an option, but weighing the base down can help stop it from toppling over when your kitten finds itself at the top of the tree. Some people do, however, go to great lengths to suspend the tree from the ceiling or surround it by a barrier such as portable fencing, having a very non traditional tree.

If, from past experience, you know that your cat likes to sample the needles, it might be better to keep the cat out the room entirely, use an alternative “tree” until he or she has outgrown the habit or get really creative with an alternative solution.

Decorations are also very appealing to cats, so try putting the breakable ones a bit higher up so that even if your cat does bat them, they won’t shatter when they high the ground, and put unbreakables on the bottom section of the tree. Make sure that the cords of the lights are out of sight wherever possible. Gift wrappings and ribbons can be hazardous too - chewed up ribbon in your cat’s gut is not a good thing.

If you are going out, it might be a good idea to make sure that kitty does not have access to the tree in your absence. The rule of thumb at Christmas - make sure that your cat does not have unsupervised time with the tree, especially if it is a kitten or young adult. A bit of vigilance can save your cat’s life.

Changing Diet in an Older Cat

Anyone who has ever had a cat knows that they can be very set in their ways and resistant to change. My nearly eighteen-year old cat never showed any interest in raw food for the first seventeen years of her life. She pointedly turned her nose up at it and walked away. It did not matter what kind of raw food it was. If it did not come out of a can, a bag or an ice cream container, it was not worth eating.

Well the new seventeen year old decided that it was time for a change. I was preparing fish for myself and put a few offcuts in a dish for her and they were gobbled up with delight as she waited for more. I knew I must have imagined this, so I gave her a couple more pieces. What a hit.

The next time I was preparing fish, I did the same thing and again, it was a hit. Now, as soon as I start to prepare the fish, my 4-legged companion comes to investigate. She has only had it once as an entire meal, and I’m sure would again quite happily, but for now, it’s just a spoonful of chopped fish in a dish as a special treat.

The point of this post is that your elderly cat is not too old to try something new, and just as our tastes can change, so can those of your cat. I don’t cook with meat, so I haven’t had an opportunity to try her with raw chicken, but I would be most interested to see how she responded.

If you wanted to change your cat over to raw food, it is something that needs to be done gradually, as the cat’s digestive system will need to adjust to the different food, so adding a little bit more of raw each day and a little less of canned or bagged food would be recommended. Then maybe canned tuna becomes the special treat. Obviously, feeding your cat an all raw diet is more expensive (at least it certainly is where I live), but don’t feel that just because your cat wasn’t interested a few years ago that he or she would not be ready for a change.