Cats and the Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Unless you are a cat. All of the hustle and bustle. The decorating and wrapping. And most of all, the gathering. Our cats are creatures of routine. When their routines get off track that can add stress to their lives. The holidays and everything that comes with it can throw our cat’s routines off. And to that all of the strange people coming and going and you have a very stressed kitty on your hands. There are ways that you can help ease the stress of your cats and the holidays.

Create a safe place

If you are going to be hosting any holiday gatherings the absolute best thing you can do for your cat is to provide them with a safe place. Giving them a place that they can hunker down while you are being hostess with the mostest will help to keep your cats stress levels down. Set up an area for your cats to hang out with all of their necessities. Try to make this area somewhere that they normally go. Putting them in a spare bedroom that they have never been in might cause even more stress. A safe place is somewhere that their scent is. This will help to keep them calm.

Whenever we are going to have company around for long periods of time, I set up their safe place in the bedroom. This is a very familiar place for them. Their scent is all around the room. I make sure that their litterbox in the bathroom is ready. They get their meals in there. As well as enough fresh water. It is very important to keep up their routines. With all of the craziness that holiday gatherings can bring, I always try to feed them at the times they are used to. Remember, keeping them on their routines is important to help keep them stress free during the holidays.

Other ways to ease the stress

Creating a safe place and staying on their routines are not the only ways to ease the stress of the holidays. To help with any unnecessary stress, I will pull out my “woo woo” toolkit and use holistic approaches to ease my cat’s stress. All of these are tried and true with my babies and I know will go a long way in keeping them at ease during holiday gatherings.

Increasing their intake of Cat Calm from The-Two-Crazy-Cat-Ladies will help keep the calm. I will also give them a calming garden in the bedroom with catnip and valerian root. They will get a couple of hydrosol water bowls with Chamomile and Calendula. A crystal garden with amethyst, red jasper, citrine, and calcite will help to keep them feeling safe and secure amongst the craziness. All of these will come from Moon Mojo Feline. And of course, they will get some Flower Essence from Jackson Galaxy. All of these have worked well with my cats on a daily basis, so I have faith that they will help ease any stress down the holidays.

Stress-free holidays

The holidays already bring enough stress, so helping to eliminate our cat’s stress will help to eliminate our own stress. I always worry about how my cats will react when we have company. Keeping them calm is highly important to me. But remembering that my own stress can affect theirs is equally important. Trusting that I have done everything that I can to keep them calm during the holidays will go a long way. Maybe I should start taking some Cat Calm before the holiday gatherings begin.

“Keep calm and cuddle with your cat.”~Terry Pratchett