How to keep your cat safe and healthy during Holidays & New Year’s Eve

To a cat, a Christmas tree is essentially a giant indoor jungle gym covered in fragile toys. Anchor your tree securely to the wall or ceiling to prevent it from toppling over during a midnight climbing session. Avoid hanging glass ornaments on the bottom branches, and completely ban tinsel from your home. If a cat swallows tinsel, it creates a "linear foreign body" that can cleanly slice through their intestines, requiring immediate, life-saving surgery.

Holiday horticulture is notoriously toxic to felines. Poinsettias get a bad reputation for causing mild stomach upset, but true lilies, mistletoe, holly, and amaryllis are far worse—ingesting even a tiny amount of a lily's pollen can cause acute, fatal kidney failure in cats. The safest route is to opt for beautiful silk or artificial versions of these festive plants.

Whether it is your boisterous extended family arriving for dinner or the deafening boom of New Year’s Eve fireworks, loud noises terrify cats. Anticipate this by setting up a "safe room" (like a quiet bedroom or office) before the chaos begins. Equip it with their litter box, a water fountain, fresh food, and a cozy place to hide, like a covered bed or a cardboard box. Keep the door firmly shut and lock it if necessary to prevent guests from accidentally letting them out.

Rich, fatty holiday foods are a recipe for feline pancreatitis. Furthermore, traditional holiday ingredients like onions, garlic, grapes, raisins, and chocolate are highly toxic to cats. Make sure your trash cans have secure, locking lids, and politely but firmly instruct your holiday guests that under no circumstances are they allowed to slip the cat a "treat" from the dinner table.