While celebrating Halloween over October can be a lot of fun for humans, it can be a stressful and dangerous time for our cats. It is important to ensure your cat is not overwhelmed in the run up to a Halloween party and measures are in place on the day of the event to help your cat stay settled.
Decorations and Chocolate
All the visual/auditory/olfactory appeal of a Halloween celebration is a lot of stimulation for your cat and can pose a risk to the safety of your cat. So while adults and children can both enjoy Halloween, please read on for how to keep your cat safe during and run up to a Halloween event. .
Candles
Candles are a regular feature of creating spooky effects. The flickering of a candle flame can be a curious invitation for your cat to explore, resulting in burns or singes. Unaware cats could even burn their tails on them. Displacement of candles due to a frenzied or curious cat can prove to be a major fire hazard as well. To avoid such circumstances, consider getting electric candles with the flickering effect for spooky vibes. This will minimise risks to animals and children alike.
Glow Sticks
It would be difficult to find a Halloween celebration without glow sticks and other glowing accessories that have toxic (if ingested) liquid in them. The taste of the liquid itself is very unpleasant. The plastic can easily be bitten into by a cat and the taste can risk an aggressive reaction from your cat. The liquid can cause irritation to the skin and eyes. If your cat does get into the situation where it’s tasted liquid, you can override that taste by offering milk, canned cat food or tuna juice. If your cat has had skin contact with the liquid, you must wash it off. The best way to identify if this has happened is to view your cat in the dark and it will become immediately visible. The same goes for the eyes of the liquid comes into contact with your cats eyes. Keep an eye on your cat after any such incident to see if it reacts badly to any ingested liquid. If so, a vet consultation would be required.
Known effects of ingesting the liquid is frothing and foaming in the mouth of the cat. In worst cases, vomiting can occur. Besides consulting a vet in worsening situations, washing away with lots of water and letting the cat settle down is the best approach.
Decorations
Your curious cat will most likely want to inspect Halloween decorations and play with them. Stringy decorations are especially attractive to cats. Kittens and younger cats will be more likely to investigate and access decorations for play. This can also be a reaction to boredom for indoor cats. The risks involved are breaking and injuring, ingesting something wrong. As such, your cat requires plenty of supervision during this time. It would be a good idea to keep a new interesting toy on hand for introduction in the day of the event or even build up to. This can keep your beloved cat distracted.
Decorations should ideally be out of your cats reach wherever possible.
Chocolates and Candies
Do you know that chocolate contains a compound that is toxic for most animals? At Halloween, chocolate access for your cats can be plenty. The compound theobromine can affect your cat with symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea, lethargy and sudden depression or hyperactivity. For the symptoms to be lethal, about a half kg of chocolate would need to be ingested. However, if it’s chocolate in its purer forms such as dark chocolate, just about 150 grams is enough for a bad reaction.
Cats should not have too much sugary items in their diet as their natural diets are made up of savoury items such as meat. This is why it is especially important to keep Halloween treats away from your cat.
Good luck with having a smooth Halloween that you and your cat both enjoy!
