Help your cat avoid Halloween stress

Help your cat avoid Halloween stress

Tips to keep your cat calm during Halloween

Yes, Halloween can be a fun Halloween. First, there is the spooky decorating. Then we get to come up with fun and crazy costumes to wear. Finally, nobody would ever forget the candy. In fact, this is a huge event for many humans. However, this holiday can be a stressful time for our feline friends.

First, most cats will tell you, if they could speak, that they do not like change. Decorating to them is change. Yes, those dangly spiders may be fun for them to play with on a short basis. But when you start changing every little item in the room, they realize something is up and they don’t like that.

Next, there are the costumes that you love. The masks hide your face. The long dresses and capes make them wonder what is wrong with you. The excessive makeup has weird smells. The wild hair keeps them from getting as close to you as they live. They just don’t like the costumes, even if you are trying to dress up as a human version of them.

The candy, of course, draws no attention to them. They can’t or shouldn’t be eating candy. They eat their kitty food.

What’s left? The trick or treaters and the guest will be visiting. Cats, by nature, do like guests. They do not like a lot of noise. Most cats do not like children they do not know or any humans they do not know. This means the night of an ever ringing door bell or a knocking door will not be a fun one for the cat of the house. What is a cat owner to do?

The cat owner should try to spend some quality time with kitty before he or she changes into costume. This could be time spent playing and feeding kitty quietly. Then kitty can watch while he changes his or her owner changes into costume. The owner can explain what is happening and that the night won’t last forever. Then he may wish to keep kitty occupied in a back room, with the door closed, while the guests begin to arrive. This will keep kitty away from the noise and will help avoid kitty from accidentally getting out of the house during all the chaos.