It is no secret that holiday times are upon us with Thanksgiving being today. Let us not forget we are a month away from Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and extra family get together time. Whatever is celebrated, we wish to remind you to keep in mind all of your furbaby’s safety. You say -We know! What do you mean by this? I read your previous post 9 Foods Dangerous To Your Pet. I know about food dangers… This post is to tell you that there are other threats that can present themselves to our furbabies other than food poisons.

With all the running around it’s easy to get complacent or overloaded by all the stress that the holidays can bring. So today we are going to cover some of the other dangers to be aware of.

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First, we have to mention that the main door used by you and your family entering and exiting is one of the biggest threats to your furbaby. Cats are curious creatures and might want to know what is happening on the other side of that door. Now here at Kittystead, we believe in micro-chipping our furbabies, but even with micro-chipping, it does not guarantee their safe return. So, with extra people coming and going and carrying items in and out – that door is a major opportunity for them. Be careful they don’t give you the slip. We know this is basic but those little Houdinis move quickly.

Last week our Siberian, Aria who is a great escape artist, got out twice. Luckily, she didn’t take off running like our Buddy does whenever he gets the chance. Aria loves to roll in the grass and walk around.

Now as you can see in the photo our Buddy is in the tree. A big tradition for lots of households is to put the tree up after turkey day or you already have your tree up and decorated and shining bright with your Christmas Spirit. Sadly, the tree is added to this list of possible dangers. It is not so much the tree itself but the tinsel, ribbons, candy canes, and ornaments. If cats eat the tinsel he or she could choke. You guessed it. This also applies to the ribbons and candy canes. We have to cover the ornaments too. Yes, some can be a choking hazard, but an important possible other issue is some are made out of glass so if it breaks it could really hurt your furbaby. If you have heirlooms passed down or just great retro pieces you may have metal hooks that you are using to hang the ornament. If your furbaby was to swallow that it would cause a lot of damage, and would most likely have to be surgically removed.

Did you know? If you have a live tree, the water is not safe for your cat or dog to drink.

Family visiting? Great reminder for turkey day, any of the upcoming holidays, or just in general. Family visiting puts medicines on our list. We personally proof our house for our furbabies the best we can, but that doesn’t always mean your guests are used to the forever toddler wanting to explore and play with everything. During the holiday’s cats are more likely able to find and get their paws on random medicine. Please be sure to tell your guest(s) that have to bring their medicine to put it up out of your four-legged loves reach and keep it secure like with a zipped-up bag.

Candles are great to decorate with. If you do this with cats, you sir or madam are a lot braver than we here at Kittystead are. With our 10 running around, we rarely have anything extra setting out. We have several furloves that like to knock items off high areas piece by piece. For this reason, we ask you to keep in mind, candles can be a big threat to furbabies. Sure, they will feel the heat and that should ward them off, but their fur is still very flammable. In our case, those that like to knock off stuff where they sit would consider it fun to watch that little fire fall to the floor.

We do suggest fake candles as an alternative for the safety of your home and loved ones.

Poinsettias are a great addition to any holiday decoration. But here comes the bad news – you guessed it. Poinsettias are extremely toxic to cats. Also toxic that you could be using is mistletoe, holly, lilies, and amaryllis.

It is best not to use live versions of these plants in your home. We recommend all the beautiful silk versions at your local stores or fresh flowers that are nontoxic for your pets safety.

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Christmas lights… Your cat will see these wonderful little sparkling objects as a toy. If they chew on the lights, they can get electrocuted. So be sure to keep out of reach of that agile furbaby. It is a joy to see them get excited for all the new toys you brought out for them, but just play it safe and don’t let them chew on the cords.

Of course, we will bring up the next one that we said we weren’t going to cover but feel it is very important to reiterate. Food, be careful of what you feed them. Okay on to the next thing.

This next one might seem like a strange thing but we feel as it is extremely necessary to mention. Playing dress up or dressing your furbaby. We know this is the ultimate cuteness overload and tons of pics are bound to follow from you on all your social media, but not all cats like to get dressed up. The holidays can be extremely stressful for your cat. There are a lot of changes going on – you are doing extra cleaning, more people in and out, and lots of boxes and furniture being moved around. We know cats are a creature of habit. They can have anxiety about people coming and going, and if your cat does not like to get dressed up then it will make the anxiety worse. Now if your cat is like our Buddy who does not care about much of anything or our Aria who has to be the center of attention and likes to get dressed up then, by all means, go for it and get lots of pictures because again, extremely cute.

We know we covered a lot and some of it can seem a little silly, but we assure you it is very important and some of it is paramount to your cat’s health and safety. We appreciate everyone for joining us for today’s blog. Be sure to sign up for the Kittystead.com newsletter for tips, tricks, and upcoming happenings here on Kittystead. From our family to yours, we hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.