30/12/2024
New Year’s Eve celebrations can be overwhelming for cats, with fireworks, visitors, and changes to their routine. Stress in cats can lead to serious health issues, including urinary disease. Here’s how to keep your feline friends calm and safe this festive season:
1️⃣ Prepare Their Safe Space:
Set up a quiet, secure room with your cat's favourite bed 🛏️, toys 🧸, food, water 💧, and litter box. Close your cat in this safe space well in advance of visitors arriving or fireworks starting.
2️⃣ Provide Hiding Spots:
Cats feel safest when they have places to hide 🛏️. Provide cosy areas such as boxes 📦, blankets, or access to high shelves 🪜. These spaces allow them to retreat from children, visitors, or other pets.
3️⃣ Use Signs on Doors:
Place signs on doors 🚪 to remind visitors not to enter rooms or leave certain doors open. This prevents accidental escapes 🚫 and ensures your cat remains secure.
4️⃣ Separate Cats and Dogs:
It's advised not to leave cats 🐱 and dogs 🐶 together unsupervised on New Year's Eve. Even if your pets usually get along, stress can result in unexpected behaviour.
5️⃣ Provide Separate Spaces for Cats Who Don’t Get Along:
If your cats don’t get along 😾, avoid forcing them to share the same safe space. Create separate areas where each cat can feel secure without added tension.
6️⃣ Follow the Golden Rule for Litter Trays:
Provide one litter tray per cat, plus one extra tray. Clean trays 2-3 times per day — cats dislike using dirty litter boxes. Keep litter trays separate from food and water 💧 bowls, as cats instinctively avoid eating or drinking near where they toilet.
7️⃣ Provide Whisker-Friendly Bowls:
For extra feeding stations, use whisker-friendly bowls—shallow and wide—so your cat’s sensitive whiskers don’t touch the sides. This reduces discomfort and encourages eating and drinking.
8️⃣ Start Calming Aids Early:
Calming pheromone sprays, pheromone diffusers and supplements can reduce your cat’s anxiety. It's best to start them a few days before New Year’s Eve for the best results. 📞 Contact us today to find the right calming solution for your cat!
9️⃣ Play Calming Music and Monitor Food and Water Intake:
Calming music 🎵 or white noise 🔊 can help mask loud fireworks 🎆 or party sounds, creating a more relaxing atmosphere. Place alternative food and water bowls in low-traffic areas to encourage eating and drinking without stress. Offer soft, easily digestible food such as digestive-care pouches if your cat is not wanting to eat its usual food.
🔟 Recognise Signs of Stress and Urinary Disease:
Stress can manifest as hiding 🛏️, vomiting 🤢, not drinking enough water 💧, excessive grooming—or not grooming at all 🐾.
Signs of urinary disease include straining or inability to urinate, inappropriate urination (for example on bedding 🛏️ ), vocalising in distress 😿, showing pain when urinating 🚨.
Important: Male cats are at higher risk of urinary blockages due to their long, narrow urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body). These are all concerning symptoms and your cat will most likely need to be examined by a veterinarian asap!
📞 Contact us today on 021 554 5877 for personalised advice on how to keep your cat calm and safe this New Year’s Eve. We’re here to help!
🐾 Let’s make this New Year’s Eve peaceful and stress-free for all your pets. ✨
