Winter at Home: The Tree, Tinsel, and Radiators
Holiday decorations are more dangerous than they look. A few simple rules before the holidays.
Winter brings unfamiliar shiny objects, drafts, and bouquets with unexpected plants into your home. A few minutes of preparation can spare you an emergency trip to the clinic on a holiday night.
Tinsel and garlands
The most serious danger is long, thin objects. Cats swallow thread and yarn during play more often than dogs do. Such an object can cause an intestinal obstruction, and if it catches under the tongue, it can also cut through tissue. Surgery is often needed. Skip the tinsel, and put away ribbons and string as soon as the gifts are wrapped.
The tree
Set the tree up securely, ideally with the top anchored to the wall. Hang shatterproof ornaments, since glass can cut paws. Cover the water reservoir under the tree so your cat cannot drink from it, and sweep up fallen needles.
Holiday plants
Winter bouquets may contain lilies, holly, mistletoe, and amaryllis. Poinsettia usually causes only mild stomach upset, but it is still best not to keep it near your cat. Good alternatives are Christmas cactus and phalaenopsis orchid.
Food from the table
Do not give your cat onion or garlic, including in sauces and broth: poisoning in cats has been described from less than a teaspoon of cooked onion. Chocolate, grapes and raisins, avocado, alcohol, raw yeast dough, and xylitol gum are also dangerous.
Heat and cold
Cats love radiators and heaters, but fan heaters and candles are dangerous. Place any open flame where your cat cannot brush it with her tail. Outdoors in freezing weather, there is one more danger: salt and de-icing chemicals on the paws, so wipe her paw pads after a walk. Outdoor cats warm themselves under car hoods, so knock on the hood before starting the engine.
