The Cat's Meow » Holidays

How to Avoid Emergency Vet Visits this Thanksgiving

Karen Nichols — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:01:21 +0000

The holidays are stressful enough without having to make a trip to the emergency vet. With Thanksgiving approaching, the ASPCA has published info on what holiday foods you should avoid feeding your cat. Sure, a little well-cooked, boneless turkey is okay as a treat, but other common foods are poisonous to your pet. Here’s the list:

Turkey

If you decide to feed your pet a little nibble of turkey, make sure it’s boneless and well-cooked. Don’t offer her raw or undercooked turkey, which may contain salmonella bacteria.

Sage

Sage can make your Thanksgiving stuffing taste delish, but it and many other herbs contain essential oils and resins that can cause gastrointestinal upset and central nervous system depression to pets if eaten in large quantities. Cats are especially sensitive to the effects of certain essential oils.

Bread Dough

Don’t spoil your pet’s holiday by giving him raw bread dough. According to ASPCA experts, when raw bread dough is ingested, an animal’s body heat causes the dough to rise in his stomach. As it expands, the pet may experience vomiting, severe abdominal pain and bloating, which could become a life-threatening emergency, requiring surgery.

Pie Filling and Cake Batter

If you’re baking Thanksgiving pies and cakes, be sure your pets keep their noses out of the batter, especially if it includes raw eggs—they could contain salmonella bacteria that may lead to food poisoning.

Other forbidden foods:

Macadamia nuts (can cause weakness and tremors)
Raisins and grapes (can cause kidney failure)
Onions and garlic (can cause anemia)
Chocolate (contains caffeine and theobromine, two different types of stimulants that affect the central nervous system and the heart muscle, as well as increasing the frequency of urination)

Of course, the safest route is to avoid feeding Fluffy table scraps entirely. For the ASPCA’s safe Thanksgiving guidelines, go to ASPCA.org.

More Safety Tips

Make sure that if you truss your turkey, the string is disposed of where your cat can’t find it. Turkey-flavored string is appealing to cats. If ingested, it may need to be removed via surgery.
Having holiday guests? Keep your cats sequestered in a quiet room so that they don’t escape to the outdoors when Uncle Fred leaves the door open for the eightieth time (despite being told eighty times to keep in closed).
If young children are visiting you, spend a few minutes educating them about proper cat-handling (No tail-pulling. No loud noises. No sudden movements. Let the cat come to you.) If your cats are not accustomed to having children around, supervise the interactions until you’re comfortable that neither the kids nor the kits will harm one another. A good experience could turn the child into a lifelong cat lover.

The ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center

The ASPCA is an excellent resource for any animal poison-related emergency, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you think that your pet may have ingested a potentially poisonous substance, call (888) 426-4435. A $60 consultation fee may be applied to your credit card.

[PHOTOS: 1) Mercedes (Mercy), 2) SkeezixTheCat; 3) nirvanapeace]

Pet Airways Offers Free Flights for Adopted Best Friends Cats

Karen Nichols — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:53:16 +0000

Here’s why even the most stalwart shopper should be lured away from coupon-clipping this November 26th. For anybody who has ever looked longingly at the adoptable cats on the Best Friends website, but couldn’t figure out how to bring them home, your chance has come at last.

Pet Airways is going to make a special stop in Kanab to pick up all the animals chosen for adoption, and then will drop them off across the country — free of charge — to their new homes! This all happens during two days: Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Doesn’t that beat waiting in line at 3:00 a.m. for crappy made-in-China stocking stuffers that will end up in landfill?

Here’s the goal: Best Friends hopes to have “26 home by the 26th,” or rather, at least 26 cats home by November 26th — Thanksgiving weekend. The drop-off points for the trip are as follows: On Thanksgiving Day, Pet Airways will be stopping at Denver, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; and Chicago, Illinois. At that point, they’ll stay the night in Chicago. On Friday, they will stop in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area and finally, in New York City (Long Island).

Click here for details.

Here are just a few of the adoptables looking for furever homes:

Raed

Scarlett

George

Little Sheba

Kendra

Click here for details.

Santa Pets Photo Contest: Win a Year’s Supply of Purina ONE

Karen Nichols — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:56:17 +0000

Martha Stewart Pets has just launched its Santa Pets photo contest. A photo of your cat in yuletide finery could win you a year’s supply of Purina ONE pet food!

Click here to enter .

[PHOTO: Tabby Girl]

Monday Movie: Getting to Know You

Karen Nichols — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:00:18 +0000

In a reader? Click here.

Find out more about adopting this holiday season through Iams Home 4 the Holidays Adoption Drive.

Big Savings on Holiday Cards and More at Shutterfly

Karen Nichols — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:19:48 +0000

Shutterfly has some great deals running this month – you can save a bunch on holiday cards, photo books, calendars and shipping.

20% Off Holiday Cards and More!

If you’re going to feature your cats on Holiday cards, photo books or a calendar, you should do it this week through Shutterfly and save 20%. Limited time only; no expiration date provided.

Free Shipping

You can get free shipping, too, on orders over $30. Enter coupon code SHIP30 at checkout. Free shipping offer ends 23 NOV 2009.

$10 Off

Take $10 off orders over $30. Enter coupon code SHIP30 at checkout. $10-Off offer expires 11 NOV 2009.

Click here to shop.

Don’t miss a deal! Sign up to get cat coupons, sales, freebies and giveaways in your inbox every day!

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Kitty Costume Ideas for Thanksgiving

Karen Nichols — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:15:33 +0000

This week, we’ll cover 13 Thanksgiving Costume ideas in our Thursday 13. With the holidays fast approaching, you cats need to cut down on the naps and focus and how you can be the star of your family’s Thanksgiving celebration.

The cat above, the interwebs sensation, Daisy the Curly Cat, is showing off her pilgrim attire. Her strict attention to detail has paid off in a stunning Mayflower ensemble. She even has a lifelike turkey prop which, unfortunately, is inedible.

The top three feline Thanksgiving costume options include the Pilgrim, the Indian, and the Turkey.

Tabby has gone for traditional Pilgrim attire above, but ate so much turkey she can’t get up. Make sure your costumes have enough room to accommodate a big meal.

Mao and Skeezix were pilgrims one year. As you can see, Skeezix rocks that pilgrim look.

Here’s Daisy again, but this time in a more casual Pilgrim look, with a sporty tee-shirt and hat. If you plan to romp around in the Autumn leaves before dinner, this is a good choice.

Scooter the Pilgrim Cat (above) shows off an authentic Puritan look, which is also worn by the Pilgrim cats below:

For every Pilgrim costume, there’s usually an Indian costume.

Ko nails the native American look:

As does this Indian Maiden cat:

Taz has been practicing his gobble-gobble for a stint as a turkey:

While this cat seems to be using the disguise to lure unwitting turkeys into his clutches:

If you’re just not into the whole costume scene, it’s purrfectly acceptable to arrive for dinner wearing an elegant sweater with a seasonal applique:

Whatever you do, don’t let someone trick you into wearing a chicken outfit instead of a turkey outfit! You’ll look like a real turkey if you’re dressed as a chicken on Thanksgiving!

Halloween Giveaway Award Winners

Skeezix the Cat — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:16 +0000

Hey, evrybuddy, Skeezix heer.

It’s the moment yoo’ve all been wating for: the annownsmint of the winners in The Cat’s Meow’s Halloween Costume Contest and Purrade.

We had a lot of amazing entries, and the judges had a hard time narrowing down the feeld to 8 finulists.

From those 8 finulists we drew an entry at randum, using random.org to determine the Grand Prize winner (in cases where multiple family members were finulists, they only got one entry in the drawing, per the roolz). But we’re also giving out a consolayshun prize to a non-finulist winner, and a vary speshul prize to one of the finulists for overall pawsomeness.

All the other finulists git sum zealies.

Drumroll, pleeze:

The consolation prize of 25 zealies given to a non-finalist, goes to Muppet:

The Grand Prize Winner of 50 zealies, a $25 Gift Card and a trophy goes to Chewy and her family, who also get a nod of recognishun for the most creative and funny entries:

And the special winner of the Best Group Entry and Award for Overall Pawsomeness goes to Mercy and the Gang who portrayed the entire cast of The Wizard of Oz. They win 50 zealies, a $25 Gift Card and a trophy.

Thanks to all hoo pawtisipated. Don’t furgit to enter your fotos in the World’s Coolest Cat Contest! You could win a Flip Ultra digital camcorder or other great prizes!

TCM’s Halloween Photo Contest is Heating Up!

Karen Nichols — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:01:37 +0000

Here are just a few of the best entries so far:

Calvin the King of Hearts (need to grab a hankie??)

Jacob as a Hairdresser

Baker the Beach Cat

Bonnie the Jester

Jack Kayden the Groom

King Louis the Sun King

You have until 11:59 pm on Halloween to enter. Grand prize includes a $25 gift card (to Petco, PetSmart, Amazon or Shutterfly), 50 zealies and a trophy (trophy for US and Canadian cats only).

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Cat-o-Lanterns

Karen Nichols — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:43 +0000

[SOURCES: 1) portlandpickle; 3) 4) 6) 8] 10) 11) bandofcats.com; 2) rd.com; 5) guy-sports.com; 7) tagyerit.com; 9) received via email – source unknown; 12) photobucket; 13) blisstree.com]

Win a $25 Gift Card, 50 Zealies and a Trophy!

Karen Nichols — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:07:59 +0000

ENTRY DEADLINE: Halloween

For the whole scoop, dig around over here.