How to Have a CH Cat Friendly Thanksgiving

This is a wonderful time of year filled with family, delicious food — and a prime chance to show your thanks for your CH cat!

As much as you may want to share your holiday (or turkey!) with your kitty, remember to take a few things into account so everyone has a safe, fantastic day:

Keep your cat inside: Even if you like to let your cat outside to play, try to keep her indoors. Since Thanksgiving Day comes with many distractions — whether it’s the big game, cooking dinner or visiting with relatives, you’ll want to make sure she’s somewhere safe.

If you’re having company over, you may want to put your cat in a safe room with her food, water, bed and litter pan. Even if she’s normally good with people, she may get overwhelmed if there is more company than usual and a good deal going on (people rushing about, cheering during the game, etc.). Remember wobbly cats may become more wobbly when stressed, which could put her in danger.  If you keep her out, make sure all friends and relatives watch their feet and interact with her appropriately.

Make sure decorations are out of her reach: Just like with Halloween, decorations, candles and plants can present health hazards to your cat. Even if your cat can’t jump on your table, make sure there’s nothing she may want to play with, chew or swallow within her reach.

Be smart about sharing your Thanksgiving dinner: This is really up to you. If your cat is used to getting a treat of cooked chicken or turkey, this may not be a big deal. If, however, your cat is not used to receiving human food, you may want to pass and instead give her a kitty treat.

Some foods may be too rich for your cat and cause digestion problems. Other foods are toxic, so you’ll want to keep those completely out of your cat’s reach. Here’s a few you should keep in mind.

Thanksgiving foods that you shouldn’t feed your cat:

• Raw meat, fat, trimmings and bones (from turkey, etc)
• Bread dough (raw)
• Green tomatoes or green (raw) potatoes, as well as their leaves and stems
• Onions (and other related root veggies), garlic, chives, sage
• Grapes, rasins
• Chocolate
• Alcohol
• Milk
• Coffee, Tea

Foods to consider carefully:

• Turkey – So long as it’s boneless and well-cooked.
• Liver – Only in tiny quantities.

Feed your cat first: In order to make sure you don’t have your kitty begging all evening, fed her dinner first. This may help decrease the amount of kitty dinner drama later.

Spend some time with your cat: With everything going on, your cat may feel a bit neglected, especially if she’s in her safe room. Take a few minutes now and then to check on her and let her know she’s loved.

Clean-up afterward and take out the trash: Curious cats may try to get into your garbage for a delicious morsel or two, but this can turn out badly. In addition to eating foods they shouldn’t, your cat may be cut on an open can or get her head stuck in a jar. Just to be safe, take out the trash and recycling before bed — or put it in a spot your cat can’t reach.

Are you getting excited for Thanksgiving? Will you have anyone over? How do you think your CH cats will do?