Keeping Your Cat Safe Over Labor Day Weekend

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Here are 7 tips from The Cat's Meow to help keep your cat safe over the weekend. We hope you and your kitties have a great weekend!

Hydrate

If you have activities planned, it’s easy to forget to take care of Fluffy’s needs. Make sure she has plenty of fresh, cool, clean water, especially if she’s a senior cat. Older cats tend to sleep for long periods during the day and forget to wake up and drink, so wake her up periodically, and encourage her to sip.

Keep Matches & Lighter Fluid Out Of Reach

Certain types of matches contain chlorates, which could potentially damage blood cells and result in difficulty breathing—or even kidney disease in severe cases. Lighter fluid can be irritating to skin, and if ingested, can produce gastrointestinal irritation and central nervous system depression. If lighter fluid is inhaled, pneumonia and breathing problems could develop.

Don’t Deviate from Her Normal Diet

Keep your cat on her normal diet. Any change, even for one meal, can give her severe indigestion and diarrhea. This is particularly true for older animals who have more delicate digestive systems and nutritional requirements. And keep in mind that people foods such as onions, chocolate, coffee, avocado, salt, yeast dough, grapes and raisins can all be potentially toxic to companion animals.

No Citronella!

Keep citronella candles, insect coils and oil products out of reach. Ingesting any of these items can produce stomach irritation and possibly even central nervous system depression in your pets, and if inhaled, the oils could cause aspiration pneumonia.

Never Leave a Pet Alone in the Car

Traveling with your cat? Never leave her alone in the car, and always keep a harness on her in the car so it’s easy to secure here when you stop for breaks.

Apply Sunscreen

If your cat enjoys outdoor barbecues with your family, don’t forget to apply a PET FORMULATED sunscreen to her nose and ears, especially during the midday hours. As with people, the light-skinned cats are the most vulnerable, especially if they don’t have much fur on their ears.

Indoor Cat and Visitors? Lock her up!

If you have house guests this weekend, sequester Fluffy in a spare room so that she won’t escape as strangers enter and exit the house.