Holiday safety reminders

Hi all,
This is the first holiday in a few years that we have had young, mischievous furkid in the house and Maggie has reminded me on some of the dangers these little darlings can get into.

The other day when I plugged in the Christmas tree, none of the lights came on. Upon inspection I found one of the fine light electrical cords had been bit in two. Thankfully, the lights were unplugged at the time of the mishap otherwise the result could have been disastrous. I solved the problem by winding the delicate light cord close arround the tree base, leaving only the plug exposed and using a heavy extension cord to plug it into the wall. We have also decided not to have the tree lights on when Maggie can not be supervised.

I did have the forsight not to use any glass ornaments on the tree this year, they tend to break easily, can cut little paws, and can be deadly if injested. Instead I used some old wood ornaments. I'm glad I did, there hasn't been a morning since the trees been up that I haven't found ornaments strewed about the floor. BTW, don't think that placing the glass ornaments at the top of the tree is safe. In the past I have had several young kitties climb the tree.

I have also recently been reminded that the wire bulb hooks can also be deadly if injested.

We all want everyone to have safe holidays, including our furkids. These are only a couple of safety reminder that came to mind. If you can think of any morem please add them to the lthis list.

Lin

This is a good list.

Don't leave presents under the tree unless you are sitting there watching them! All my kitties love going after the ribbons, and while no ribbon is good for them to eat, the thinner curling ribbon and the fabric ribbon with wire in it are both especially dangerous. The thinner ribbon can be swallowed easily and the ribbon with the wire is just like them swallowing ornament hooks. My mayhem once swallowed small ribbon and required $650 worth of surgery - had to be cut open from chin to hind leg to get it all out. Not a good thing for christmas morning.

Oh and no tinsel! Same reason.

Oh and one more

Be careful what you use as a centerpiece. My aunt once brought over a centerpiece for the thanksgiving table and we didn't realize until it was too late that it contained eucalyptus which is toxic to cats. Apparently this is more common in floral arrangements than any of us knew. Ended up spending thanksgiving night in the emergency room with Apache. (She made it out AOK tho! )

Don't forget that pointsiettas are also poisonous!