Thanksgiving and the Cat

Here we are about to enter into the holiday season and with it being a holiday time, we want to include our pets in our holiday celebrations. After all, they are one of the family aren't they?  But we also want to keep our cats safe from all the potentially toxic (for them) foods and candy that come into our home during the holiday season.  There are a few things that need to be said about "I wonder if the cat can eat that?"  There are some things that can be dangerous for your cat that you may not be aware of.

After having a large Thanksgiving dinner, offering a small piece of boneless, thoroughly cooked turkey, plain mashed potatoes and a smidge of pumpkin pie is not likely to be a harmful treat for your cat. Just be sure to avoid giving foods with large amounts of onion or garlic or any treats sweetened with artificial sweeteners.  Because this can lower the blood sugar of both your dogs and your cats, this could lead to life threatening things such as seizures and liver failure.

There are some spices that are potentially dangerous for your pet.  Sage is considered to be edible and should be safe if given in small amounts.  However, sage, as well as many other herbs, contains essential resins and oils that can cause gastrointestinal upset.  In some cases it can cause nervous system depression if the cat gets too much of it.  Cats are sensitive to the effects of essential oils, so for safety’s sake, I suggest you break the bad news to kitty and keep him away from the sage you are cooking with this Thanksgiving.  Because cats can be very sensitive to the effects of essential oils, it is a good idea to discourage your cat from chewing on the needles of your beautiful Christmas tree as well.       

Another thing that humans love, but pets should not be given, is chocolate which can be a problem for cats just as it for dogs. Since cats tend to be smaller than most dogs, it doesn't take as much chocolate to be a problem.  Also, the type of chocolate your pet eats can make a difference. The darker the chocolate the more dangerous, so bittersweet or dark chocolate will be a lot worse than milk chocolate. Even though milk chocolate is not as bad as the dark chocolate, there is still another possible problem with it and that is the toxins that are in milk chocolate are excreted through the kidneys. It is not recommended that you let your cat have chocolate of any kind if it has kidney issues.  With kidney problems, they would not be able to eliminate the toxins very well.  But it is safer to eliminate any possible problems and just don't give them chocolate.

We hope this information has been helpful to you and will help keep you from "killing with kindness".  We hope that both you, your family and your pets have a safe holiday.