Wishing you all a happy and healthy holiday
In many households, humans eat food they may only eat at this time of year. Turkey, duck and ham are frequent Christmas dishes, carp, herring, fondue or raclette often help celebrate New Year. Added to that are lots of cakes, cookies, biscuits, and stollen. While we enjoy these, we need to make sure we avoid our cats getting ill from the food on our table.
Ham, cold meats, and herring – are high in salt and phosphates, carrageen, preservatives and antioxidants. Cats cannot eliminate these in their digestion, so they remain in their bodies and contribute poor health in the long term.
Nuts and poppy seeds – in many baked goods this time of year. They are poisonous to cats.
Chocolate – contains theobromine, which many people know is poisonous to dogs. It is dangerous to cats too and can cause vomiting and diarrhea, seizures, and heart arrhythmia.
Alcohol – even small amounts can poison a cat, just think of the body proportions. It can cause dangerous drops in blood sugar, blood pressure and body temperature even causing seizures and respiratory failure.
Christmas tree needles, poinsettia, and mistletoe – are all poisonous to cats. Signs of poisoning are drooling, licking of lips, vomiting, and diarrhea, some cats suffer skin irritation.
Other liquids – scented liquids may make the house smell lovely, but if drunk by a cat can cause chemical burns to their mouths. Similarly, ethylene glycol is sometimes used in snow-globe-type ornaments and is toxic to animals.
Ornaments – watching videos of trees coming crashing down on a cat playing with a bauble may be funny, but for the cat and household in the video, it probably wasn’t at the time. Small glass shards can cut into a paw, liquids could spill or hot wax from candles could hurt our pets. Even tinsel can cause a problem if swallowed and it gets caught in the intestinal tract.
The good thing is that all these possible sources of danger can be easily avoided with cat-friendly decorations and not sharing our rich, spiced and salted food with our beloved cats. 3coty® 04. Turkey and 07. Shredded Turkey are a better Christmas Dinner alternative!
