08/12/2025
Are we all feeling festive now? 🎄🍫🕯️🎅⭐❤️
Here's our Evie, Ivy and Ava - 1 very enthusiastic about her first Christmas, 1 who appreciates the heating and the company most of all and Ava who is anxious about everything needs lots of reassurance and comfort this time of year. All 3 want to be with us and involved in some way all the time though, unless Ava's in her den when things get a bit too much for her 🥰
Here's some tips to keep in mind with our moggies and pups this Christmas 🐾🎄please do add any more useful tips, advice or stories you'd like to share? 🙂
🎄 Make sure your tree is secure or supervised, if needed, especially if you don't know how your cat or dog will behave. It's no big deal if yours is easy to discourage, recall and tell to leave it if needed but many others will hyper focus on new things and quite often the first thing a cat or dog wants to do when they spot something new or get somewhere new is to go straight over and explore or to avoid completely, you're the lucky one if your cat or dog doesn't run on impulse assuming everything is for them to investigate or play with. If we can prevent them feeling stressed or getting into mischief and trouble in the first place (for the first few times, days or weeks) they'll often continue happily without hyper focusing on new things or getting into any pickles. Otherwise we risk them making a mess, breaking things, getting injured or ill or even creating such a stressful event that they become scared of something.. this could be from something as silly(to us) as knocking over a Christmas tree!
⭐ Make sure wires and Christmas lights are safe, secure and supervised at first especially with cats! I find cats are often more likely to play with and chew on lights.. what about yours?
🍫 Remember to be keeping chocolates and sweets, grapes, currents, raisins, sultanas well out of reach. Raisins, xylitol sweetener and dark chocolate are all highly toxic!
🎄 Remember to keep tinsel, baubles and little decorations out of the way where your munchkins can't get to them if they like chewing or pinching things.
📥 Make sure your dog has a safe space/den they can retreat to if they need to; if the house is busier or louder than usual, if there's things they find stressful or scary and especially so it's ready for them in the run up to fireworks, a safe den or space should always be accessible year round. Make sure it's in a cosy, quiet, sheltered area they're comfortable in. You can help them understand by teaching them to go to their crate or safe space with food rewards, especially when they hear something scary or look like they're getting stressed and on a cue too. A few reps a few times a day will start to encourage them and get them into the habit
🕯️ Keep candles out of reach and in safe spots where they won't get knocked over easily or better yet use rechargeable or battery powered candles! Excited or stressed cats and dogs can easily knock over or get too close to open flames!
🌷 Keep poisonous plants out of reach; this includes plants like poinsettia, holly, mistletoe, and lilies but do check on any plants you have just to be sure. Often cats and dogs will chew plants or things that they wouldn't just because it's something new or because they're stressed and especially when they're left home alone for long periods and they get stressed, bored or frustrated.
🍗 Be mindful when sharing food. Don't take risks with bones and be careful how much you're sharing and of what. Too much of something rich or different to their norm and you might be cleaning up after a runny tummy or sickness for the rest of the night, or worse rushing off to the vets. So just be mindful ☺️
🍾 It goes without saying but remember antifreeze and alcohol are both highly dangerous if ingested by our pets too
🌀 Managing stress in our pets. If your cat or dog is very obviously stressed and unable to settle you may find a pheromone diffuser is helpful, try to stick to their usual routines, make sure they have a safe space they can retreat to if needed, play with them regularly everyday to help boost their mood, if they're too stressed to play then high value food being scattered or flick-a-treat games can help, maybe spread their food across some food dispensing mats and toys throughout the day (this stops them hyper focusing on their anxiety or stress for a few moments or so which can really start to help them feel better if it's done regularly enough), if they're too stressed just let them go to their safe space/den to settle out of the way until they can relax and remember it's okay to comfort and cuddle them just don't make a huge fuss and start acting out of your normal character. Fun games and activities with food, toys and fuss are all forms of enrichment and mood boosters that will help to lower stress and anxiety, boost feel good hormones and even build their confidence and trust in you which all helps them feel better. A bit of fun and food can take their minds off things and boost their mood very much in the same way that it does for us ❤️
Be safe and have fun 🙂🎅🕯️🎄🎁⭐
