Cats and New Year's Food

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Welcoming in New Year with Your Feline Friend

It’s hard to believe that it’s already New Year’s Eve! Soon my laptop will be displaying the year 2009 on the screen. Amazing. I wish that my cat Saki were still alive to herald the New Year.

But I do have my friend’s cat Mittens, who is the same age as Saki if she were still around. (Saki, wherever you are in the Great Beyond, are you happy?)

Never Feed Your Cat Holiday Tidbits

Anyway, as a cat guardian I have to look after the well-being of my furry friend. On New Year’s Eve, that specifically means:

Do NOT give kitty any table scraps. Nil. Nada. It’s bad for cats. And dogs. Even if they beg, even if they look entirely too adorable, you absolutely must resist the impulse to toss them tidbits from the holiday table.

Can Mittens Ever Vibrate!

Okay, I confess. On Christmas Day I gave Mittens some organic, grass-fed filet mignon from my friend’s plate. (It’s way too expensive even for human consumption.) She was ecstatic. She blissed out. She emitted 4 loud, resoundingly happy meows, purred loudly, and vibrated her tail. Mittens vibrates more vociferously than my cell phone.

Hours later, she threw up. Fortunately, that’s all that happened. But really, I should not have given her human food. And not in the quantity that I did. Just because Mittens looked so cute that I could’ve simply squeezed her till she was purple (do cats ever go purple?) doesn’t give me the license to feed her steak.

(Okay, more confessions. I’ve given Mittens turkey from the restaurant on Thanksgiving Day. In the past, I’ve also brought her home some cheesecake.)

Nutritionally Unbalanced Holiday Fare

Festive fare is too rich for cats—probably too rich for human!—as well as unbalanced nutritionally and could be harmful to their health. It doesn’t pack the nutrients that your cats need.

Cats Must Avoid Japanese Sweets

Kittens require food that can help support their development and growth spurt.

More confessions. When Saki was a kitten, I was living in Japan so I gave her some Japanese sweets. She loved them. Even though cats can’t taste anything sweet.

When I happened to mention the snack to the vet, he shot me a look so withering that I wanted to tuck my tail and slink away. Well, at least I never fed Saki any more bean-jam filled pastries.

Be Careful What You Feed Elderly Cats

Older, geriatric cats find it harder to digest unaccustomed food. Like aging humans, their metabolism is slowing down, and they need all the nutrients they can get to help them cope with the onslaught of age.

So….

Take it from me: Keep your cats away from New Year’s delicacies!