By Sir Hubble Pinkerton
As a prelude to sharing my suggestions about how to safely celebrate Thanksgiving with cats- (and live to tell about it), is to let you know that I love almost everything about this festive holiday. I’ll bet one of my nine-lives that lots of kitty guardians are cooking up a storm today preparing an abundance of mouth-watering holiday bounty fare.
Since the aroma of cooking turkey, ham or roast beef is incredibly tantalizing to us, it goes without saying most guardians will share a few tasty morsels of turkey with their cats. After all it’s only fair to get a piece of the action after enduring all those tempting scents- don’t you agree? But please remind the humans who are sharing these treats with you to do so away from the dining room table, since we want to avoid learning that begging behavior is ok. This action truly annoys the hairless two-legged ones.
It’s really important that humans share treats safely. Since turkey and other fatty meats can be extremely rich; it’s best to only feed us small portions to avoid digestive upsets. Additionally, some ingredients in human food are toxic to us. Heck, I don’t want to spend most of the day sitting in the waiting room of a veterinary waiting room. Would you?
Of course make sure that the meat is well cooked to avoid Salmonella poisoning. All cooked bones must be carefully removed since they splinter easily and may lodge in our throat, causing us to choke and they may even cause intestinal injury. Children must be warned and carefully supervised so they don’t offer us bones.
Many herbs and spices are harmful to kitties. For example, sage and other herbs contain essential oils which may cause gastric distress and, if consumed in large quantities can even cause depression of the central nervous system. So to be on the safe side don’t eat any stuffing.
While it is highly unlikely that anyone in their right-mind would feed raw dough to kitties, according to experts from the ASPCA, raw bread dough reacts with pets’ body heat causing it to rise in their tummy. Vomiting, bloating and extreme abdominal pain may result. In fact, this preventable condition can even become a life threatening veterinary emergency requiring surgery.
While the humans can safely enjoy those luscious-smelling creamed onions, and foods containing garlic, they are quite toxic to cats. Onions and garlic cause a breakdown in red blood cells which may lead to anemia. Even though some commercial cat foods contain a small quantity of garlic, your humans should avoid feeding any table scraps in which they are contained.
Then there are those luscious desserts and beverages which must be monitored carefully. Chocolate and caffeine are toxic to cats and are not suitable to be given as treats. Of course licking up alcoholic beverages are a huge no-no.
My guardians keep it simple to keep me safe on Thanksgiving Day. Although I may get lonely for a short period of time, in order to prevent me from accidentally escaping out the door when company arrives, they keep me confined in the bedroom. This also stops me from jumping on the kitchen counter to “steal” a tasty treat. It may be frustrating but it does keep me safe from overindulging. After everyone arrives, has eaten and all the dishes are in the dishwasher, they let me out so I can hang out with the company.
Just observing these few safety tips can prevent Thanksgiving Day from turning out to be a disaster for us kitties. So please do let your guardians read this article!
What other special things do your guardians do to keep you safe? Please tell us in a comment.
Thank you Michael for posting this very important notice about what Not to Feed our cats today or any other day.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving with your Gabriel *
Eva says
Happy Thanksgiving to you Eva and your lovely cats.
We don’t celebrate this day, but wish you and yours a good, happy, healthy, safe one.