Sharing Christmas dinner with your cat: A three-course festive feline meal

Jessica Curtis — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Christmas is a time to treat our whole family — and that includes our beloved pets. There are so many ways to treat them this time of year, such as by gifting them with a new scratcher or toy. You can even give them a collar with a bow tie on so they can get dressed up like the humans to enjoy the festivities!

As well as giving them a toy or two to enjoy on the big day, why not go a step further and make a cat-friendly Christmas dinner for your pet too? There are quite a few delicious festive ingredients which your cat can enjoy safely, so there's no reason that they can't join in with the fun.

So how can you treat your cat with the tastiest food this Christmas? Here the feline experts at Catit have provided us with the perfect cat Christmas menu, with three courses of healthy dishes they're sure to love.

Starter

Prawn cocktail is a classic festive treat us humans love. And, as most cats are fans of seafood, a dish with prawns is the perfect starter for your cat's Christmas dinner. Prawns are high in protein and low in fat, making them a great, healthy treat for cats. They can be enjoyed in a number of ways too.

To save yourself prep time, you can buy a wet cat food with prawns in. As well as being tasty for your cat, this is a quick and easy option for you during the busy festive period. Of course, remember that you should not feed them the whole pouch if you're giving them a three-course meal, as this will be too much food for them. It's best to give them a quarter of a pouch for the purrfect starter.

You can cook prawns for your cat as a starter as well, as long as you avoid cooking them in any butter, oil, or salt. The safest way to prepare them for your cat is to boil them and allow them to cool for a bit, remove the shell, and cut them into small pieces before serving. One or two prawns is the best serving size for a starter.

Main

The main Christmas dinner is actually one of the easiest dishes to replicate for cats. White meat like turkey is healthy for our cats, and commonly found in cat food too. So, the easiest and most convenient way to give your cat their own Christmas dinner is by giving them turkey or chicken flavoured wet cat food, such as the Catit Cuisine Pâté. As well as being healthy, this food is made especially for feline stomachs so your cat can enjoy a Christmassy meal without getting an upset tummy!

Dessert

Cats don't have a sweet tooth like humans do and too much sugar can be bad for them, so a feline Christmas dessert may look a little different to our standard festive puddings. However, this doesn't mean they can't enjoy something tasty to round off their meal! If you want to treat them to a post-dinner dessert, you can make a savoury no-cook cake using just 115g of sweet potato puree, a 140g tin of tuna with the liquid drained, and 70g of finely diced cooked chicken.

Simply mix the three ingredients in a bowl until the mixture can stick together. If there's too much liquid, sprinkle a small amount of flour to soak it up. Then just form a small patty (around an inch in circumference) and serve. The excess of this mixture can be frozen and stored for up to three months in freezer bags.

Christmas treats

If you want to give your cat more for their starter and main course, you may want to skip dessert — but you can still give them a small treat to enjoy. A liquid-based cat treat is the purrfect way to round off their meal as they are both hydrating and refreshing.

Those looking to enjoy some Christmas baking could try creating their own cat biscuits in festive shapes, like in the shape of a snowperson or a Christmas tree. These can be enjoyed over the whole festive period too! To make these, all you need is a tin of tuna, 210g of plain flour, and a whisked egg. Simply add the tuna (with the liquid) and the egg to a bowl and then mix, before gradually adding the flour. Once this is all mixed and in the form of a dough, roll it until it is 1cm thick and cut the biscuits out. Finally, bake them at 180⁰C for around 20 minutes and allow them to cool. This recipe makes a lot of biscuits, so you may just want to use a quarter and freeze the rest of the mixture for a later date. Or, if the Christmas spirit has you feeling generous, make them anyway and gift some to the cats of other family members, or even a cat rescue!

If you think your cat has had enough food after their three-course meal, why not give them a non-edible treat? You could gift them a new toy and let the whole family play with them after their Christmas meal to help your cat burn off the energy from their delicious dishes. Just make sure you've given them enough time to digest their food, so they don't end up feeling queasy afterwards.

Festive ingredients to avoid

Luckily, there are so many festive ingredients for your cat to enjoy, so you shouldn't find it hard to treat them this Christmas. But there are some festive foods that you should completely avoid giving to your cat, including:

Dried fruits: These can cause our cats a lot of damage, ranging from stomach upset to kidney failure.

Meat with bones: These can be choking hazards for cats, so always make sure they are served meat without bone.

Nuts: As well as being a potential choking hazard, some types of nuts can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, and sometimes tremors in cats, so it's best to avoid all types this Christmas.

Onion and garlic: These bulb vegetables can be toxic for cats and cause vomiting, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain.

Cracking ideas for festive feline savings

Jessica Curtis — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Craft-loving cat lovers will be able to keep their pets amused and keep costs down this Christmas with their own handmade creations thanks to help from feline welfare charity Cats Protection.

"Christmas is a time for treating the ones we love, whether they're family, friends or felines" said Daniel Warren-Cummings, Cats Protection's Central Behaviour Officer. "There's lots of things that cats really enjoy about this time of year – from curling up in front of somewhere warm to getting up to mischief with all the empty boxes which are often left over once the presents are open! Making your own cat toys and treats is a great way to keep Christmas costs down and is also a fun activity to keep children occupied during the school holidays."

Here are Cats Protection's top tips (with helpful links) for feline-friendly goodies which are both simple and cheap to make.

Feeding enrichment activities: Cats love different ways to make feeding time more interesting. Commercially-produced food balls are available in shops but homemade versions are cheap and easy to make. Hiding dry food in a clean, empty egg box will give cats the chance to enjoy batting their way to their food. For a different take, try suspending a large, clean yoghurt pot with some holes in it to allow biscuits to fall out just above the cat's head height – cats will love working out how to bat the food out.

Fishing rod toys: These are a fantastic activity for cats young and old and you can easily make your own. Tie a length of string to the end of a short wooden rod (a garden cane works well) and secure with heavy duty tape. Secure a small cat toy to the end of the string, adding some artificial feathers if you have any. Then simply dangle and drag to attract your cat's attention! Make sure your cat is able to catch the toy periodically, as cats can be left frustrated if they're unable to catch their 'prey'. Ensure that fishing rod toys are safely out of the cat's reach once play time is over.

Toilet roll puzzles: Collect a good supply of toilet roll tubes and stack them on top of each other to create a mini wall of tubes, secured with sticky tape. Hide a portion of your cat's daily allowance of dry food or a cat nip toy within the tubes - cats will love using their paws to fish out the goodies hidden inside.

Cosy cardboard den: Cats don't need fancy expensive cat beds – a cardboard box and a blanket or old jumper works just as well. If you're feeling creative, or want to give the kids a challenge, use felt tips or paint to jazz it up. Avoid using tinsel to decorate as it can cause serious illness if ingested due to the blockages they can cause.

DIY scratching stations: All cats need access to somewhere they can scratch to keep their claws in tip-top condition. For a cost-effective addition to scratching posts, look out for old carpet samples which are often cheaply available or even free at carpet shops. Or you can make your own from cutting up a cardboard box.

Catnip knots: Most cats love catnip and will spend hours engaged in energetic play with it. For a simple homemade toy – which also finds a use for odd socks – simply fill a sock with a couple of tablespoons of dried catnip, knot the end and trim off any excess.

Homemade balls: A ball of tin foil can make a perfectly adequate toy, as long as the cat can't swallow it.

More information on cats and play can be found on the charity's website here.

Your Pets Daily - Cats at Christmas