Nauset Kennels

The holiday season is here and while we need to keep our pets safe all year, the winter holidays pose some interesting issues. If anything, we can all use a reminder!

1. Restrain yourself from “treating” your pet to holiday goodies. Instead, show your dog how much you love him by taking him on an extra long walk. Give your cat some extra attention and loving instead of human food treats. Not only is human food too rich for our pets, but so many of us go overboard with our own treats at the holidays, it is easy to lose track of just how many treats your pet is getting.

2. Mistletoe, holly, Christmas cactus, and Christmas trees can be poisonous to pets. When you look at the list of poisonous plants you might think it is a bit overwhelming, since so many of our favorite plants are on it! However, Christmas greens and the others I have listed above, while common at the holidays, are easy to control. Either don’t bring them into the house altogether, or carefully select a location where your pet can’t access it. For a detailed list of poisonous plants, complete with pictures, follow this link and under “Featured Highlights,” click on the “Have a Poison Free Holiday,” which will take you to the Poison Control Center page for the ASPCA. (Due to linking policies, I can’t provide the direct link to the pages I am referencing - sorry!).

3. Remember that some wrapped packages contain food. Sounds simple, but Kirsten and I will never forget one Christmas where, unbeknownst to us, quite a few of our package contained chocolate and other wonderful goodies. No, we truly didn’t know. (While I would like to think I can smell chocolate a mile away, I am not that skilled). We came home to two very full, very naughty, and very lucky dogs, who had spent the evening gleefully unwrapping our food presents and devouring them!

You could go to a lot of trouble trying to sniff out the food presents. You could put a baby gate around the tree to keep the presents out of reach. We’ve found that the easiest thing to do is to just crate the dogs when you leave. And to those of you who have those goody-two-shoe dogs that would never even think of grabbing a present or doing any counter-surfing, I am truly jealous! Luckily, Pecan and Scout are too short to surf, but if they could, they would! I’m sure they will be sniffing the presents under the tree!

4. Avoid the temptation to dress your dog in those adorable costumes for longer than a little while and do not leave them unattended with those costumes on. Bells, elastic materials, and pom-poms, can all easily come off and be ingested. Elastic can dig in and irritate (Do you remember any costumes throughout your life where the elastic dug in and would itch and hurt??? Think of your poor pet!).

5. Make good decisions regarding company. If your pet isn’t great with people around or if your company doesn’t love pets, try to make arrangements accommodating them. Pets can easily get stressed when new people are around or even if there are just too many people. As much as we love our pets, we crate them or bring them to the kennel when we have company. We know they are safe and not eating things they shouldn’t be and we know that they won’t be underfoot causing our guests to trip over them.

(Note: just because your guests have their own animals, does not mean they will love yours. I once sat through a very uncomfortable gathering with a lovely golden retriever who was just too much for our group that particular night. The hostess kept saying things like, “He doesn’t usually act like this.” Even though most of us have our own dogs, the dog just didn’t need to be there.)

6. Be very cautious with all candles at all times of the year. Wagging tails can easily knock over candles on low tables. Curious noses and whiskers can get burned. An inquisitive or playful animal can accidentally knock over a candle, which, if unattended, will cause a fire. I once forgot and left a candle burning in another room and only realized it when Puck, my cat, came flying into the room and I noticed that her fur had been singed. Scary to think that she could have really been hurt!

7. Be wary of placing any fragile or glass ornaments on lower limbs of your tree. Dogs and cats can easily knock them off. Our cats have always been fascinated by the tree and love batting at ornaments, often sending them flying off the tree and across the room. One of our odd dogs actually practices a dog form of tai-chi and circles the tree slowly over and over. Ornaments usually don’t survive that too well! While we’ve never actually had our entire tree tip over, we have lost ornaments and lights to our pets. The play pen or baby gate encircling the tree is actually a really good idea now that I think about it!

8. Avoid giving puppies for Christmas. Who really wants to house-train a dog in the winter? Who wants to try starting a walking program with your dog in the winter? Puppies need exercise. It’s hard enough getting my own exercise in the winter, much less making sure my dogs are fully exercised. Think long and hard about the timing of your puppy. And even though we don’t like to think this way, most Christmas presents lose their luster after the holiday decorations come down. Unless you bought a puppy for yourself under the guise of a present for the kids, you will be the main caretaker. It may take a few weeks, but you will be either feeding and walking the dog or constantly harping on your children to do so. How much nagging do you want to do?

9. At all times of the year, know what to do in case of an emergency and know some basic health signs to look for. Have the poison control number on hand: 800-213-6680. Go to their website to learn more: http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/

I realize that this is not a comprehensive list so I encourage you to send me your thoughts. What have I missed? What are some of your holiday stories? Have you actually used the baby gate or had to call the poison control center for your pet?

In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday season. And instead of splurging on presents for your pet, I urge you to consider a donation of pet supplies to your local food pantry. You know how important your pet is to you. Help others feed theirs. This has been a tough year for many people and I’m sure their pets have helped them cope. Happy Holidays!

Jo’s take on cat ownership

I consider myself to be more of a dog person, but we’ve always had at least one, sometimes a half a dozen cats around the house. My son is very much a cat person, so for his 13th birthday I got him a kitten. She was just a tiny tabby cat with white paws and very long whiskers. He named her Fudge. She was impossible not to fall in love with.

So with this new kitten he marched into parenthood. He took on all the responsibilities of being a pet owner: feeding and caring for her, and of course, changing the litter box. They grew quite close. She’d much rather curl up on his lap and snuggle with him versus anyone else in the house.

Now he is 15 and loves his little Fudge dearly. So the other day when I came home for lunch I had to think, “Who really owns who here?” I walked into the kitchen to find a small mouse lying on the floor. I called to my son and said, “Did you see the dead mouse out here?” (It is not unusual for the “less than pleasant” clean-up jobs to be left for mom). He said, “Yeah, Fudge caught it. I was letting her play with it.” I mentioned that it was kind of gross sitting out here and he very sincerely commented that she was having so much fun with it he didn’t want to take it away from her. He seemed quite proud actually. Now that she seemed to be done with her “toy” I asked him to please clean it up, which he did right away.

Later that night Fudge came up in the conversation and he began explaining her evening routine, where she sits on his lap by the computer and then at bedtime is carried to bed and promptly tucked in. It began to occur to me that she really has him wrapped around her little paw. Though she is an indoor cat he will often carry her around outside and let her nibble on grass. A meow or a nudge and he’s up to get her a snack. And she never goes without when it comes to toys, most of which he buys with his own money. I think she got more stuff for Christmas than anyone else!

Now we all love our animals very much. They bring us companionship and unconditional love. And cats most certainly have their own sophisticated way they show it. They are endearing and very clever. There seems to be a fine line that cats and their owners waver on as to who is in charge. It would seem in our house little Fudgy reigns supreme. So I have to ask you to think about your house - do you own your cat? Or does your cat own you?