Do some lion taming, only instead of a kitchen chair, use a giant sea bass. Once the sea bass is eaten, lie back on the couch and pile three bags of sugar on your chest. Now attach an outboard motor to the couch and push the throttle all the way open.
This approximates a very important part of our holiday experience; sharing my traditional shrimp cocktail with Reverend Jim, and managing to breathe through his ardent appreciation, afterwards.
Of course the other cats enjoy shrimp bits too; they become very happy. But it’s a real holiday highlight to make Reverend Jim this happy.
Do we have a holiday tradition we share with our cats? Do they get a special treat or an ornament to play with or a seasonal toy?
If not, why not?
We marked Tristan’s first Christmas with this stuffed Santa, and we look forward to him attacking it for many holidays to come.
The holidays can be a trying time for our cats. Routines are disrupted, leisure time shortens, new people show up, and might even hang around.
For every interesting box that appears, they risk getting scolded or warded away from its contents. Shelves that used to be theirs now have new things that aren’t supposed to be investigated.
In many households, a tree appears, covered in blinking lights and sparkly ornaments, and they are expected to leave it alone.
It’s all very puzzling to our cats.
Give them something to look forward to, just as we do. From special treats to a holiday toy that comes out of the decoration boxes, we can discover ways to help the cats feel festive, too.
Whether we celebrate Christmas or Pancha Ganapati or Kwanzaa or Chanukah or Festivus or Bodhi Day or the Winter Solstice, or any combination thereof…
We should include our cats in the joy of this season.
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My cat has a jingly Santa on a string that she plays with year-round (she loves red things) but she knows to be excited for the holiday since she’s the only one in the household who gets wrapped packages and a stocking. I’d let her know the gifts are for her, but she has to wait a couple days. By Christmas Eve the anticipation is palpable.
We put the more durable ornaments at the bottom of the tree, so the cats can enjoy being naughty without risking breaking the glass ones that are further up.
We do the same thing as Max – plush ornaments around the bottom of the tree. Occasionally I find one in the middle of the living room and it’s not a big mystery as to how it got there….LOL. ~ Melody
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I love the Festivus reference : )
One of the home cats here goes crazy for shrimp as well. It’s all the more surprising given that he’s not big on food in general.
I try not to get too nuts about what the cats do over the holidays – I think they need the license to misbehave a little just like humans do. We also put the unbreakable ornaments on the bottom of the tree – invariably there are races around the tree to see who can go the fastest and planning for it minimizes our anxiety about decoration havoc. The real favorite holiday activity, especially for Alex, is helping me wrap presents. The “help” consists of sprawling exactly in the middle of the rolled out wrapping paper, crinkling it generously upon being scooted gently off said paper, and immediately plopping on the pile of bows. Never fails. God help any gift that arrives in a basket, as it promptly becomes the Space Into Which I Must Fit, Although It’s Clear I Do Not, Actually, Fit.
My new cat Toby just about died and went to heaven this Thanksgiving. We gave all the cats bits of the turkey. He was ready to climb in the fridge after the leftovers!
Cobra kitty!! http://bit.ly/uDxGlQ
Brigid and Morrigan love to play with “their” ornaments – the safe yarn and felt ones at the bottom of the tree. I have already been gifted with Mrs. Claus and a stocking on my blanket when I awoke – twice. So far, and this is their second Christmas Tree, they haven’t tried climbing it.
They weren’t too enthusiastic with Thanksgiving dinner (diced bits of turkey and giblets, and a bit of pumpkin from before it got mixed into the pie). They have not really been interested in much people food, other than tuna and egg salad before the mayo goes in, and gouda.