How Cat Lovers Celebrate the Holidays with Their Cats

Here are some ways pet lovers spend the holidays with their pets. We hope you enjoy reading them and get some ideas for your own holiday traditions.

• I hang small Santa Stockings on the stair railing with their names on. For the most part I add toys that are stuffed with catnip and treats for dental care. Adeline – from Canada
• Our kitty has her own little Christmas tree with small kitty toys for ornaments. Her tree is prelit and is just right for her. She gets special treats on Christmas. She is a special kitty. – June Moore, Stockbridge, GA
• For the major holidays, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even their birthdays, we always make a big dinner. They always get a little meat, potatoes, and gravy. They’re used to eating wet canned cat food about once a week, but when it comes to big holidays and their birthdays, they get a very special, more expensive, can. Always something different. They also get a new toy on Christmas and birthdays. When I really don’t have the money, or they don’t need more toys, I give them each a new milk ring, paper bag, or a new string. They’re just as happy with those toys as they are with the toys from the store. \~ Wendy \~
• My cat loves tissue paper and the holidays. I let him out of his room (yes, he has his own room) to watch family and friends open their gifts. People who do not know this cat very well place their sticky ribbons to his tail and back. Normally, at other occasions, he would run in circles, hissing, spitting, and complaining very loudly. During the holidays, he likes all the attention, the boxes, the tissue paper and even the sticky bows stuck all over his body. We spend a few hours opening the gifts and by the end of those few hours, my sweet cat is fast asleep, covered with bows, half covered with tissue paper and very very content. – Harris
• Two or three weeks before Christmas I start hiding and/or throwing out all the toys the cats currently have, until the toy basket is empty about a week before Christmas. Trust me, by then the ratty-toys-toss is usually long overdue, but the timing works well for making a big deal out of a few new playthings on Christmas morning. Each cat has a stocking, and these will be filled the night before with a couple of toys and treats and a peacock feather showing at the top — hung up in the living room from a curtain rod so that the feathers are of great interest but unattainable overnight. Next morning breakfast will be some excellent food Wuz and Orion really like, but don’t get to eat very often. These are indoor cats, but I’ll let them come out while I refill the birdfeeders and put out handfuls of feast seeds and peanuts in the shell for the chipmunks and gray squirrels (we offer out special nuts/ sunflower hearts/seed blends and primo suet on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years). Being outside once in a while is a great and very cool (no pun intended) treat for them. Then we’ll come back inside and I’ll put the stockings down on the floor, and “getting presents” starts with the peacock feathers and fresh potted catnip. Eventually I’ll leave the cats to continue prying out whatever is in the stockings at their own pace. I’ll get my coffee and breakfast and eat it on the couch; we’ll keep an eye on the birds and wildlife action out on the deck. Usually I’m cooking turkey, so the house is full of good smells. Sometimes I have some wrapping to finish, and crackly paper has it’s own magic (especially when one has a snootful of catnip :)) Christmas and New Years Day mornings are both like this: the point is being together, relaxed and having fun for a few hours of definite quality time. – Kristen
• When I only had one cat I use to wrap his present with catnip and put it under the tree. He would find it and unwrap it and enjoy the catnip and the toy that was included. Now I have a dozen so I now buy fresh catnip and toys for them but I don’t wrap them and put them under the tree anymore. Also this year I have bought them a new expensive cat tree with several shelves and a house that they can sit in. It gets very expensive when you have more than one animal, plus I have to buy for my grand dogs and cats.
• This year my two cats and I decided to start a new holiday tradition in that instead of buying them a repeat of what they already have so much of and continue to enjoy, I’ve decided to make a donation to my favorite local shelter along with a few goodies for the animals that have so much less than mine do. My cats both agreed this would be a purr`fect tradition! They’ve both been rescued and know first hand what being without food and a warm, safe loving home is like. A little bit makes such an impact to the ones that have so much less and by doing so, I know our hearts will be uniquely filled this holiday season\~ Blessings to all, Bambi, Buddy & Torijean from upstate NY.
• I have 6 cats and every year when we hang our stockings for our boys we hang kitty stocking, in the stockings they get a can of soft cat food like sheba and some jingle balls. Also since we consider the kitties a part of the family they get presents under the tree and they also give presents to everyone. I know some people consider this corny but out cats actually sit with us when we are unwrapping the presents. Mainly because of the jingle balls. Amelia loomis
• Every year we buy the most expensive can of cat food in a flavor that we hope she will enjoy. Then we all open our “gifts” at the same time. It is just my husband and me and we just put our “stuff” in a big Christmas bag. That way we don’t have a lot of gift-wrapping to get rid of. Doris Tonseth
• I put up a real tree especially for the cats. I found that Douglas Fir seems to work the best because the branches are strong enough to support their weight, yet flexible so that the cats can use the lower large branches as sort of a slide. I keep the decorations simple-usually red plastic balls and snowflakes that are folded and cut from recycled printer paper (like we made when we were kids). I’ve also done things like tie Christmas cards on the branches with ribbon, etc. I don’t use any lights. The cats tear up the snowflakes, but it’s so easy to make more that who cares. My blind cat Jacob is usually the one who climbs to the very top before any of the others.

The tradition got started for me back in 2000 because of a cat, Zoobie, who was a 9 yr old cat I met at a local no-kill shelter. He’d been there since he was a kitten and was feral despite everyone’s best efforts. When he was 8 yrs old, he started pacing in circles. Veterinary specialists discovered that Zoobie had a huge brain tumor. In May, the tumor was removed by Dr Lisa Klopp. In June, Zoobie came to recover with me. He got stronger each day and soon could chase that pesky Cat Dancer all over his room. In August, when he had recovered and was out of danger, I formally adopted him. He was still feral though and kept his distance. In December, I kept getting a feeling that Zoobie needed a real Christmas tree. I tried pushing the idea from my mind, but it wouldn’t go away. Finally, I gave in. I bought a beautiful 8 ft. Douglas fir tree, brought it in the house, put it in the stand, then decorated it with red plastic balls and paper snowflakes. Zoobie absolutely loved it! He made it clear that he wanted me to play with him by chasing him back and forth around the tree. If I stopped to catch my breath, he would stop, too and wait for me. When I tired out, I plopped down in a nearby chair. Zoobie sauntered right over, brushed against my ankles, and then hopped up in my lap, purring. He never acted feral again. His trust and friendship were the best Christmas presents I’ve ever had. I lost Zoobie in January 2007 to lung cancer-he was 16 yrs old. As I put up my Christmas tree each year, I fondly remember that special Christmas and know that Zoobie is watching and waiting at the Rainbow Bridge. Kindest regards, Linda Moore