Upcoming Holiday Safety Tips

From the latest issue of Cat Fancy Magazine, some common sense tips
(paraphrased). Most of us already know this stuff but just in case...
Note: these tips relate to Christmas trees (which I don't do):

* Don't hang tinsel on the tree. Injested tinsel can cause intestinal
blockages which lead to serious problems (aka surgery).
* Use plastic, wooden or covered styrofoam ornaments rather than glass
ornaments.
* Cover power cords if you use electric lights.
* If it's a live pine tree, cover the water dish the tree sits in. Pine is
highly toxic to cats and they may be tempted to drink from the water
basin.
* If your cat is a climber, secure the tree to the wall or the ceiling so
it won't fall over on the curious cat.

That's about it.

Jill

Good advice, Jill, but let's remember Halloween comes first. It's a
good idea to keep your cats IN that night - not only black cats are
"fair game" to sick minds out there. (Probably a good idea to keep them
in all weekend, since a Saturday holiday tends to be celebrated on
Friday and Sunday as well.)

jmcquown wrote:
From the latest issue of Cat Fancy Magazine, some common sense tips
(paraphrased). Most of us already know this stuff but just in case...
Note: these tips relate to Christmas trees (which I don't do):

* Don't hang tinsel on the tree. Injested tinsel can cause intestinal
blockages which lead to serious problems (aka surgery).
* Use plastic, wooden or covered styrofoam ornaments rather than glass
ornaments.
* Cover power cords if you use electric lights.
* If it's a live pine tree, cover the water dish the tree sits in.
Pine is highly toxic to cats and they may be tempted to drink from
the water basin.
* If your cat is a climber, secure the tree to the wall or the ceiling
so it won't fall over on the curious cat.

That's about it.

Jill

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...
Good advice, Jill, but let's remember Halloween comes first. It's a good
idea to keep your cats IN that night - not only black cats are "fair game"
to sick minds out there. (Probably a good idea to keep them in all
weekend, since a Saturday holiday tends to be celebrated on Friday and
Sunday as well.)


Yes! Halloween can be a particularly brutal time of year for cats. My cats
are indoor-only, but I keep them in the computer room on Halloween evening
until after "trick-or-treating" ends, just out of an abundance of caution to
make sure one could not get frightened and run outside. That's really
highly unlikely because mine never show the slightest interest in going out,
and I think they would run farther *inside* if frightened by some of the
ghosts 'n goblins at the door, but I don't want to take the risk.

MaryL

Agreed, although my cat isn't black and she doesn't go out. But be careful
of your cats on Halloween. Some people are just too stupid to think cats
are evil.

Secondary to that is American Thanksgiving which is also coming up. Cats
love turkey. Persia prefers chicken and turkey meat (cat food) to anything
seafood. But make no mistake, those bones are dangerous. Not only dogs but
cats like to gnaw on brittle chicken/turkey bones. They break easily and
can get caught in your pets throats. Even if not, they splinter and wreak
all sorts of havoc in the intestinal tract. So don't let your pets chew on
poultry bones.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
Agreed, although my cat isn't black and she doesn't go out. But be
careful of your cats on Halloween. Some people are just too stupid to
think cats are evil.

Secondary to that is American Thanksgiving which is also coming up.
Cats love turkey. Persia prefers chicken and turkey meat (cat food) to
anything seafood. But make no mistake, those bones are dangerous. Not
only dogs but cats like to gnaw on brittle chicken/turkey bones. They
break easily and can get caught in your pets throats. Even if not, they
splinter and wreak all sorts of havoc in the intestinal tract. So don't
let your pets chew on poultry bones.

Jill
Fortunately my cats don't seem to LIKE human food (even chicken, turkey,
or raw hamburger). I remember one Thanksgiving dinner party when I
served Cornish game hen (1 per person, as the recipe advised, which was
too large a serving for most of my guests). I didn't worry about having
so much uneaten, since I figured the cats deserved a treat, too. I must
have spent half an hour carefully removing all the leftover meat from
the carcasses, with the cats meowing around my ankles the whole time. I
transferred it to the cat bowls and set it down for my eager trio. All
three turned up their little noses in disdain, and refused to even TOUCH
it, until I finally gave up and threw it out! (CATS!!!)

MaryL wrote:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message

Good advice, Jill, but let's remember Halloween comes first. It's a good
idea to keep your cats IN that night - not only black cats are "fair game"
to sick minds out there. (Probably a good idea to keep them in all
weekend, since a Saturday holiday tends to be celebrated on Friday and
Sunday as well.)

Yes! Halloween can be a particularly brutal time of year for cats. My cats
are indoor-only, but I keep them in the computer room on Halloween evening
until after "trick-or-treating" ends, just out of an abundance of caution to
make sure one could not get frightened and run outside. That's really
highly unlikely because mine never show the slightest interest in going out,
and I think they would run farther *inside* if frightened by some of the
ghosts 'n goblins at the door, but I don't want to take the risk.

I'm just curious about something. I always keep Smudge in on Halloween
(something I'll have to do this year as well, won't that be fun?), and I
tend to believe that there's enough of a threat of sickos out there who
might harm her, that I think it's the right thing to do. But sometimes I
wonder... is there really as bad a threat as we all think? Do bad things
actually happen to cats on Halloween? I mean, other than in isolated
cases. If it's only very minor isolated cases, then the odds of someone
harming a cat on that night aren't any greater than at any other time,
either, IMO.

If anyone's read or heard of anything like that happening to a cat on
Halloween, I'd like to know. However, PLEASE, spare me the details, OK?
If you say you've heard of a recent bad story about a cat suffering
sicko behavior on Halloween, I WILL BELIEVE YOU!

Thanks!

--
In war you kill the people who are the victims of the tyrant you
claim to be fighting against. -- Howard Zinn

I'm just curious about something. I always keep Smudge in on Halloween
(something I'll have to do this year as well, won't that be fun?), and I
tend to believe that there's enough of a threat of sickos out there who
might harm her, that I think it's the right thing to do. But sometimes I
wonder... is there really as bad a threat as we all think? Do bad things
actually happen to cats on Halloween?

I would check on snopes, but I think this is almost entirely urban legend.

In Scotland there are so many fireworks round then that the cats will keep
themselves in of their own accord.

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === http://www.campin.me.uk ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts
****** I killfile Google posts - email me if you want to be whitelisted ******

wrote:

I'm just curious about something. I always keep Smudge in on Halloween
(something I'll have to do this year as well, won't that be fun?), and I
tend to believe that there's enough of a threat of sickos out there who
might harm her, that I think it's the right thing to do. But sometimes I
wonder... is there really as bad a threat as we all think? Do bad things
actually happen to cats on Halloween? I mean, other than in isolated
cases. If it's only very minor isolated cases, then the odds of someone
harming a cat on that night aren't any greater than at any other time,
either, IMO.

If anyone's read or heard of anything like that happening to a cat on
Halloween, I'd like to know. However, PLEASE, spare me the details, OK?
If you say you've heard of a recent bad story about a cat suffering
sicko behavior on Halloween, I WILL BELIEVE YOU!

I doubt if those stories are based on much of anything. I've heard about
cat abuse, far too much of it, but none associated with Halloween from
first hand or even good second-hand (ie reported locally by reliable
people who give dates, names etc) stories.

Now, its an excellent precaution in my neighbourhood to NOT have your
cat running around outside even when there aren't extra cars dropping
off little trick-or-treaters at their grannie's place, so I'll probably
as usual skip on the trick-or-treating (and extra door-opening) and make
sure the cats don't slip out. But I won't do it because I think
someone's going to steal them for a sacrifice to the devil or something.
And one of them is a big black cat, too.

Cheryl




--
Cheryl

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...


jmcquown wrote:
Agreed, although my cat isn't black and she doesn't go out. But be
careful of your cats on Halloween. Some people are just too stupid to
think cats are evil.

Secondary to that is American Thanksgiving which is also coming up. Cats
love turkey. Persia prefers chicken and turkey meat (cat food) to
anything seafood. But make no mistake, those bones are dangerous. Not
only dogs but cats like to gnaw on brittle chicken/turkey bones. They
break easily and can get caught in your pets throats. Even if not, they
splinter and wreak all sorts of havoc in the intestinal tract. So don't
let your pets chew on poultry bones.

Jill
Fortunately my cats don't seem to LIKE human food (even chicken, turkey,
or raw hamburger). I remember one Thanksgiving dinner party when I served
Cornish game hen (1 per person, as the recipe advised, which was too large
a serving for most of my guests). I didn't worry about having so much
uneaten, since I figured the cats deserved a treat, too. I must have
spent half an hour carefully removing all the leftover meat from the
carcasses, with the cats meowing around my ankles the whole time. I
transferred it to the cat bowls and set it down for my eager trio. All
three turned up their little noses in disdain, and refused to even TOUCH
it, until I finally gave up and threw it out! (CATS!!!)


Half a cornish game hen is enough for anyone. Persia doesn't get people
food but her kibble is chicken flavoured. She doesn't like seafood stuff.
Strange cat

Jill

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:47:15 +0100, Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:

I'm just curious about something. I always keep Smudge in on Halloween
(something I'll have to do this year as well, won't that be fun?), and
I tend to believe that there's enough of a threat of sickos out there
who might harm her, that I think it's the right thing to do. But
sometimes I wonder... is there really as bad a threat as we all think?
Do bad things actually happen to cats on Halloween?

I would check on snopes, but I think this is almost entirely urban
legend.

In Scotland there are so many fireworks round then that the cats will
keep themselves in of their own accord.


My sister once had a black cat disappear on Halloween night, never to be
seen again. We never knew for sure what had happened to it.

--
John F. Eldredge --
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria