Christmas Cats: A Literary Companion

Holiday Foods and Alcohol

We love all the foods of the holidays: Christmas cakes, cookies, fruitcake, and plenty of other delicacies to tempt the palate. Your cat should not be tasting these treats along with you, even if she begs. Chocolate, especially, can make a cat very sick. In high enough quantities, it can be fatal, particularly to small kittens.

Potato chips and like snacks might not be fatal, but should also be off-limits, or only allowed in very small quantities. The salt content is terribly high, and too much can cause a chubby tabby. Fortunately, most cats don't like human treats like chocolate and chips, but there are definitely exceptions.

Precious is one of these exceptions. She is a cute little nineteen-year-old Tortie who adores Doritos and other cheesy snacks. She is allowed a very tiny portion, only on rare occasions. If you have one of these junk food kitties, moderate any snacks, remember no chocolate, and be careful of quantities.

What would the holidays be without a holiday turkey or ham to add an enticing aroma to the air? Imagine that same aroma if you possessed 5OO million olfactory nerves (as opposed to a human's 5 million)? Wow! How can any feline resist? But resist she should! Though it is all right to feed your kitty a few boneless scraps, please be careful where you dispose of the bones. They can splinter within the cats' digestive tract and cause ruptures that may be fatal.

And how humans love to indulge in a bit of the spirits during the holidays! But please keep Kitty out of these festive indulgences. Alcohol is quite toxic to cats. At the very least, it can make your beloved feline extremely ill.