Humans get so busy during the holidays that sometimes they forget about their cats. Can you imagine? It’s supposed to be the happiest time of the year, and so many cats are bored and neglected! It doesn’t take that much effort to give kitties a good time during the holiday season. You humans can even do it while you are in the middle of other holiday activities. I put together a short list of easy-peasy ways for you to have a fun Christmas for your cat. They take almost no effort, and your cat will love you for it.
- Trim your tree with your kitty in mind! Maybe you have some precious (and fragile) heirloom ornaments. Of course you will want to put those high up on your tree, out of your cat’s reach. But what about the lower branches? Many savvy humans put their sturdy, unbreakable ornaments down there… but you can go one step further and place some cute cat toys on those lower branches instead! That way, your cat can play with them and knock them down, and it’s totally okay. (Also remember, if you have a live tree, to keep the tree-watering receptacle covered up with tinfoil or otherwise made inaccessible! That water is not good for kitties. My human has a fake tree so we never have to worry about that.)
- Let your cat help you wrap the presents. Most humans see this as a recipe for disaster, but it’s not necessarily so. While you are wrapping presents, lightly crumble up some tissue paper and sprinkle catnip on it. Your cat will have so much fun that she may forget to stick her nose in whatever it is you are wrapping (at least temporarily). And you always wind up with scraps of wrapping paper — so crumble those up tightly and toss them for your cat to chase! They can go into recycling later.
- Get a giant-sized Christmas stocking for your cat, and hide fragrant catnip, silver vine or valerian toys (whichever is your cat’s preference) inside. Then let your cat pull them out herself as a cool holiday activity.
- You know how cats like boxes and wrapping paper – so why don’t you give yours a nicely-wrapped box as a holiday gift? Even better, fill it with crinkly tissue paper for extra fun! Many years ago, my human gave Sparkle a gift-wrapped box for Christmas and it was a big hit.
- This is the easiest one ever — when you are watching all the holiday specials, make sure your cat’s favorite throw or blanket is spread out on the couch (or your lap) so she can enjoy it with you.
- When you are cooking your holiday meals, make sure they includes a special treat for your cat. For example, most cats enjoy turkey liver, giblets, or the heart, so boil them with no spices and give a few bits to your cat. (You can refrigerate the extra for later… or you can do what my human does, and chop them up and put them in the stuffing for the humans.)
- If your cat is shy and all that extra holiday bustle makes her nervous, create a kitty sanctuary for her — a guest-free room or secluded part of your home with some of her favorite things, and lots of places to hide. I know some humans who wish they had this during the holidays too.
- If you are going out of town without your cat, do your best to leave your cat home instead of boarding her. We kitties prefer our familiar spaces and going somewhere unfamiliar without our humans is stressful for us. So if you can arrange for a pet sitter to either visit your cat a couple times a day, or even housesit, that is ideal. And make sure you bring home some special treats for your kitty when you return.
- Cats know that Christmas morning is a special time, and they may be as excited as the humans! If they are, let them help unwrap the presents, and share in the pleasure of giving. After all, your cat is a treasured family member, and should be part of every important activity in your home.
Petcretary thought she had the ornament toy trouble figured out, bu putting a garland ribbon with little balls on it, (Not dangling, they were more like beads…), and sure enough Minko and I pawed and pulled them until we toppled the trees and tangled up the garland…so there petcretary! MOL! At least they were table top trees and not full sized, phew!This was long before we did Catster/blogging so there are no pictures…what a pity.
Good ideas you told us:)
Mee-you Summer those are grate tipss!! Mee has tisshue papurr all mee own an cellyfane frum Mumma Mary-Ellen. So when LadyMum iss rappin a gift mee can play rite along side with her. An mee has 6 Dreidlss of mee own to play with!!! WOO HOO!
An may mee say yur rockin thee Katmass tree hat quite well…..
~~~head rubsss~~~ Siddhartha Henry~~~
Summer, now that was epic, we just loved all your pawesome tips and advice, though sadly this year our tree is an outdoor affair only because Fudge is a total MENACE, we’re hoping by next Catmas he will have calmed down some! MOL
Best festive purrs
Basil & Co xox
These are great tips, Summer! Lexy and I always help wrap gifts, but sometimes I don’t think our efforts are appreciated.
Great tips. TW said no ct enjoyed Christmas as much as Faith. You’d sit under the tree all through the season. Christmas morning, she had all the gifts unwrapped before anyone woke up. She’d guard her toys until the tree came down.
Very good advice, Summer ! Purrs
Those are great tips Summer! The only one I would add is if you have a tall tree, secure it with wire or 20lb fishing line to the ceiling, in case curious cats (like Queen Penelope), try to climb the tree. There is nothing more fun that watching humans wake up out of a sound sleep and run to the tree room when they hear the tree crash in the middle of the night!
Purrs
Marv
Mom gave up letting us help wrap gifts years ago. Too much slashed paper and furred up tape. We like your idea that would make it more fun for us and less stressful for her. Mom is sort of bummed that all her special ornaments had to remain packed away this year because of Sawyer, but we think our tree looks pretty good anyway. Thanks for the great tips. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer
Hi Summer,
I liked your ideas. But it got me wondering what cats in Jewish households and African-American households were missing out on. So I took your tips and adapted them for cats in those households. I hope you don’t mind.
If you feast Hanukkah, get your cat a bunch of her own dreidels. They make for great cat toys. You can get small wooden ones, plastic ones of different colors and even those new ones that have sounds and lights. Get the kids of the household to include the cats in their dreidel game. It will be more fun both for two and four legged players.
Prepare a Hanukkah gift for your cat. Instead of sweets, fill it with some cat snacks.
Prepare your cat a special Kwanzaa or Hanukkah meal, the way that you, Summer, mentioned for the Christmas meal. But before you set out, may I suggest you check out two articles in my website Cats Are On Top? One is called “How Much Should You Feed Your Cat”, the other “Human Foods Cats Can Eat”, as I think that this will contain helpful information before you set out to feed your cat for the holidays. We also have one regarding what cats are allergic to.
But back to our topic, when it comes to Kwanzaa, how about you put away some of the mazao for the cat to play with? Crops is a nice toy because it makes noises the cat finds intriguing. True, it will thoroughly destroy it and you will need to clean it up from your home. But isn’t that worth including your cat into the spirit of Kwanzaa and the community?
Now if you are Jewish, don’t feed your cat sufganiot, not good for cats (and neither for humans if we were to tell the truth). Another thing that both Jewish and Afro-Americans have to keep in mind are the candle holder and the candles required for the holiday. For your children’s and cat’s sake, keep the flames under observation as long as they burn and out of reach of both. Especially of cat breeds that are a bit clumsy and/or curious. Happy Holidays to everyone.
We love that tree hat on you Summer! We think it’s your best hat yet 🙂
Good tips! Our human has always had a wrapped Christmas box for us. It would end up being Mitalee’s favourite box all year round!
the critters in the cottage xo
We give four paws up to all of these ideas! I helped wrap today 🙂 –Mudpie
Those are great tips, Summer. But our favorite one isn’t probably one of yours. And that’s to not dress your cat up in holiday hats. 🙂
Those are great tips. We bought some smallish metal jingle bells and hung them all around the lower branches of the tree. The boys loved to make them jingle and try to get them off to bat around the floor.
Summer, I love the tips and the sentiments in each tip is true of all we CB kitties. We are very loved and very family.
Very creative tips, Summer! I bet our cats would love having a toy hanging from a lower Christmas tree branch.
OMC – I love that hat…
Great ideas and very sound advice too. No Christmas here but there will be some extra treats but none of the peeps cooking as that is RANK and generally burnt MOL
Toodle pip & purrs
ERin
Summer my friend you deserve a good citizen and congeniality award for wearing that hat. It is adorable but wow. It reminds mom of those Latin ladies who dance with fruit hats.
My mom put an ornament with a bell in it on the bottom branches. When I touch it it jingles……….
Hugs madi your bfff
Those are all good pretty Summer and we love to help unwrap presents!
You look so cute in your tree hat. I do all of these things except leaving town 🙂 I encourage my cats to play with the ornaments on the bottom ( crocheted Christmas balls with nip) .
Fabulous tips sweetheart. Our humom says she has some surprises hidden in her car for Christmas, for Us! Her and dad are pretty good about keeping us busy. They even put up the xmas tress this year with cat safe ornaments. We have pretty much knocked them down while they sleep. Olivia keeps climbing to the top too! Happy Holidays! Purrs
Those are great tips. I will do those for my kitties.
Thank you for your tips today. Good idea making a Christmas box.Love your hat…super cool.x
Those are some good suggestions. Summer, how did you keep that tall hat on your head???
#7 is so funny!
Oh the HAT!!!!
Thanks for the great advice, Summer. We will make sure that #1 listens closely!
Purrs,
The Chans
Great tips Summer!