There’s nothing quite like Christmas with a cat. The festive season is always full of fun and laughter, but add a cat into the mix and you’re sure of an incredible time. Below, we’ve sought to emulate Mystic Meg (or should that be Mystic Mog?) in an effort to predict what the Christmas season has in store for you and your furry friend…
We predict… your tree decorations won’t last long!
Picture the scene: a calm winter’s evening, perhaps a snow flurry outside, and you and your family lovingly decorating your Christmas tree. After a few hours, you all stand back from the tree and admire your handiwork; the beautiful baubles, the tinsel that shimmers in the glow of the fairy lights, the star perched perfectly on the top of the tree - it’s masterful.
Of course, your cat takes one look at your handiwork and thinks: “ooh, that looks like fun!”
We’ve all been there: carefully assembling tree decorations only to see our four-legged friend diligently tear them all down. So you carefully put them back up, and, yep, the inevitable happens: down they come again, and this time your cat proceeds to chase a bauble around the room as if mocking you. Realistically, the best thing you can do is surrender to the inevitability, grab a crown and cloak, and anoint your cat the King or Queen of Christmas Chaos. If it’s going to happen anyway, they might as well look cute while they do so!
We predict… catnip gifts won’t make it to Christmas Day!
Every cat owner loves to ensure that their beloved pet is included in the festivities, treating them to special turkey recipes from their preferred cat food brand and dressing them up for the occasion in a snazzy Christmas collar. However, when it comes to giving gifts to your cats, there is one choice that is highly unlikely to survive to Christmas Day: a catnip gift.
If you buy a catnip toy, or just a bag of herbs as a special treat, don’t wrap the gift and place it under your tree. Your cat, with no concept of why the 25th of December is a special day, will decide that Christmas morning is right now, merrily ploughing through the rest of the gifts in their eagerness to find the ‘nip. If you want to give catnip gifts, then keep them well-hidden from your kitty’s keen sense of smell in the lead-up to the day itself to prevent an impromptu early opening of everyone’s presents!
We predict… your cat will commandeer any heating source!
Christmas is a cosy season, and there’s an incredibly quaint delight to be enjoyed by curling up in front of the fireplace - oh, no, sorry, you can’t do that. That’s the cat’s spot.
Okay, so you’ll grab a snugly blanket and relax on the sofa for… did someone say blanket? Yes, sorry, the cat wants the blanket as well, and as for that cushion you were thinking of resting your head on… sorry, that’s the cat’s as well.
Cats are natural heat-seekers, and they love nothing more than to curl up in a furry disc and commandeer any source of warmth or comfort that crosses their eye line. If you want to ensure you have at least some space to yourself, then it might be best to buy them their own furry placemat - they’re sure to love it.
Though, of course, they’ll still want to sit on you at times, too - likely the most inconvenient times imaginable. Cats, eh?
We predict… much fun will be had with wrapping paper!
So you’ve decided that you’re going to gift your cat a fantastic breakaway collar for Christmas. You carefully wrap the collar up in wrapping paper, add a little tag (because if any animal is intelligent enough to be able to read and see the benefits of hiding this ability from humans, it’s definitely cats), and then place it under the tree.
Christmas morning arrives, and it’s time to gift your cat their new collar. You unwrap the gift, place the collar on their neck, grab your smartphone to take a photograph of them looking their best… but you can’t, because your cat isn’t thinking of sitting beautifully for a photograph. Oh no. They’re going to roll in the discarded wrapping paper, and they’re going to keep doing so for as long as they please.
Cats love wrapping paper and all the associated elements, and there’s no harm in letting them go to town and enjoy literally every single part of your gift. However, do be cautious of tags and ribbons, as some cats will quite happily chew on these items - which is perhaps a sign we were overestimating the whole intelligence thing…
We predict… your cat will be glued to your kitchen floor while you cook!
Preparing Christmas lunch is always a long, time-consuming task, usually involving many hours spent in the kitchen desperately trying to juggle a thousand things at once. As you do so, you’ll discover your cat wants to join in the fun, though they’re not so much with the hard work of actually helping - they’re more into the “sitting and staring at the cooking turkey” kind of food preparation.
This means that your Christmas lunch preparation has an added layer of jeopardy: you’ll have to prepare the meal, get your timings right, and carefully step over the cat each time you need to move. The smell of cooking meat has lured your cat into the open, and they’re not going to move until they’re munching on the scraps you know you probably shouldn’t throw them, but are absolutely going to anyway. Who can blame you? They’re just too cute to refuse.
Final thoughts
There’s no denying the simple pleasures that cats introduce to Christmas time. Sure, they can create mild chaos, and their constant thirst for turkey can verge on the problematic, but they’re also little furry delights that will keep you laughing, smiling, and - of course - enjoying delightful kitty cuddles all the way through to the New Year.