ah the holidays roaring fires kittens family all gathered around playing Monopoly and eating
something and potential cat disasters waiting around every corner the Christmas catastrophe
as it were I know I know well I'm here to help you as always breaking out of this weird little
accent that I had so let's do that because this is Mindy and she didn't like my accent one little
bit so let's talk about the potential problems that you face during the holiday season if you
have cats and the hacks that I can provide to get you through it without winding up at the
ER at three o'clock in the morning with your cat so let's get to it now stop before we go
any further okay I want you to settle down there is hope for Christmas you can have a
great holiday you can have a wonderful New Year's you can have all the things you want
because for everything that I'd identify as potentially hopeless I'm going to give you
hope I'm going to give you a hack hack equals hope there we go okay now let's get into it
okay so let's get a little bit of a frame around the holidays and having cats you like to decorate
you like to play into the fact that it is the holidays and all of the sort of accoutrements
that go along with it I like saying the word accoutrements when I'm wearing an ascot just
FYI and then you have your cat your cat is a toddler that can reach the ceiling always think
of it that way they are curious like a toddler they always break stuff for the fun of breaking
it and seeing what happens to it and they live in a Vertical World your cat's body is uniquely made
to go up your cat's going to want to climb the Christmas tree I mean not all cats but a lot of
cats just want to see what it's all about to get that Vantage Point what happens next your tree
is on the floor the presents are ruined you have water all over the place and your cat may get hurt
in the process so the easy hack here is make sure that your tree is bolted to the wall think about
it in terms of one of those scratching posts it's just kind of flimsy your cat goes to scratch it
winds up on the ground that simple hack number one is making sure that your tree is tied to something
on the wall period let's face facts ornaments are they're reflective they move around a little bit
they dangle they are cat toys they're the best cat toy in the whole wide world your cat's going
to want to knock those around I mean seriously if you have a cat and you have glass ornaments
hanging off your tree I mean do you really need me to tell you that well maybe you do that's why
we're here don't do it don't have the reflective ones don't have the ones that are made of glass
the hack is if you're going to use the ornaments on your tree yes I know everybody does just tie
it up nice and tight to the branch don't let it swing because that's the invitation to catastrophe
another hack when you think about again we're thinking about toddler we're thinking about
toddler presents under the tree I mean those presents are let's face it again
it's an invitation oh there's something to scratch and rip oh there's there's ribbon I
can play with them because I've been granted permission because they are here if they're
here they belong to me the hack is I know please don't get angry at me you don't put the toys down
until Christmas morning so they're not sitting there with everybody sort of salivating about
them for a month your cat's not going to salivate they're just gonna tear it apart
so look let's face it we got to keep your cat away from the Christmas tree there's more examples I'm
going to give you in a little bit but if you want to keep your cat away one of the best deterrents
I've seen this is a hack that I first learned about 20 years ago basically all you do is it
most cats and don't I don't want to hear it from you guys oh my cat loves Citrus oh my cat thrives
on lemon or whatever okay fine but most cats don't really dig the uh the smell of citrus
so the solution becomes kind of easy you zest orange peels grapefruit peels lemon peels you
put them in a baggie you poke holes all through the baggie and you put them around the bottom of
the tree you're putting out a smell that your cat may not want to go in the air and that's a nice
little hack now finally if you don't want your cat near the Christmas tree which I think is a fair
assumption based on what I'm saying then you can create a barrier around there with things that are
just not fun if you're your cat one of the easiest and and really the least intrusive things they're
compressed air canisters and I've used them for a long time where if they're they've got an electric
eye pretty much they're battery operated you put them around the tree if your cat starts to walk
that perimeter they just get a little puff of air and a sound it just makes it so that they
make the association that this might not be the best place to be so hopefully they won't be there
but if you've been following me for any amount of time you know this but if you're gonna say
no to your cat you gotta say yes to them this is a place of social Gathering it's an important place
because we have invested it with that importance so we want your cat to be a part of it one of the
best ideas is the cat mystery bringing in a brand new cat tree for your cat their Christmas present
right and it goes nearby the actual Christmas tree not near enough for your cat to jump from
A to B but just enough that they can get some verticality observe the room and you can get all
kinds of brand new stuff for them toys and little blankets and beds so that we can use them as scent
soakers your cat can own a piece of the room where the tree is and maybe be a little less inclined to
go there no we're going to put these little air Blaster things around the tree or the Citrus or
anything else you want to do and then yes here's your cat mystery now that is a hack [Music] now
this whole toddler thing that's just the beginning the other category is the category where there are
things in your home at the holidays that can really hurt your cat they can make a mess you
can wind up in the ER in the middle of the night your cat's life could be in danger from a lot of
the stuff and our old friend the Christmas tree comes right back in the picture there's a lot of
things about your tree that can really do a lot of harm to your cat let's start with the pine
needles themselves your cat is chomping on there those things are sharp and they will just wreak
havoc on their way down Perforating everything in this path potentially causing blockages and
really just a whole lot of pain as they try to pass it it's just it's just too dangerous then
you've got the water that your tree is sitting in that's sappy water absolutely 100 toxic to your
cats so if they go in that water and they drink it it could be game over right there so there's more
more danger now let's talk about the things that go on your tree but tinsel I personally know cats
have passed away from eating tinsel it just goes down and it's a lasso for the organs in your cat's
body wrapping around their intestines you know if you don't get to it in time and get them into
emergency surgery bad things can happen so that's tinsel flocking which is that white sort of spray
a lot of times that looks like snow totally toxic to your cat if they eat the pine needles covered
in flocking what about the wires there's wires all over the place connected to the wall which
can be connected to your cat's mouth if you're not if you're not smart am I missing anything oh by
the way ribbons yes ribbons that cover your gifts and your cat eats it and again terrible things can
happen so you really got to be on your toes I know all you traditionalists out there are like oh God
why did I get a cat you got to say no to certain things get a fake tree it is just the easiest hack
that you can possibly do to prevent all of these catastrophes or you could just do something like
this I I mean that's genius untraditional but they had a tree or just go the plastic tree that so
we're done talking about the tree now let's move on to other holiday horror but no it's not holiday
horror it's holiday hope because it's a hack let's move on now as we're going through the holidays in
the spirit of giving why not give me something which is you subscribing to this channel I mean
it's for both of us really we can share and also you can ring the bell so you get notifications
for all kinds of cool stuff and if you look right next to the Subscribe button you'll see the join
button and that's all about our new club called the Mojo knots and there's tons of fun stuff
going on there from private posts to outtakes to bonus footage behind the scenes stuff and we have
a private Discord Channel and private chat I mean tons of great stuff so go ahead and hit that join
Button as well that's a happy holiday for all of us so now we put the tree to bed now we're gonna
we're gonna continue on with other things besides your Christmas tree that can be really dangerous
for your cat and and I I want to make sure that I lay this out for you guys everything I talk
about right now I'm going to put links below I'm not going to go exploring into all of what the
foods that you leave around that can kill your cat and the plants that tend to be around the flower
hours that tend to be around the holidays that can absolutely be toxic for your cats the links I'm
going to put Below in the description will run it down for you so you can make sure that you don't
put out the things that can kill them and you do put out the things that won't well there's
a hack for you so uh here are a few things that you must avoid your cat ingesting the first one
is chocolate chocolate is absolutely toxic to cats and dogs and of course the holidays are a
lot of times about chocolate we understand Homa after all we are from the land of chocolate mmm
the land of chocolate so please make sure that that's not around them and when it comes to giving
your cat scraps from the table it's cool but cats are meant to eat meat but not meat with like
garlic all over it or barbecue or whatever that is another thing that you must avoid is cooked bones
cooked bones are absolutely when we talk about pine needles that's basically what a cook bone
will do it'll Splinter it'll go down the wrong way it'll perforate on its way down and here's
just a taste of other things that could be really dangerous for your cat cats are actually lactose
intolerant so giving the milk is not a good thing in the first place eggnog makes it that much worse
so absolutely no on the eggnog I know some of you guys are like really yeah I know that and just to
go a little step further alcohol also poisonous to cats okay that is the obvious stuff there's a lot
of stuff that's not so obvious again look in the description for everything you need to know and
when it comes to house guests they get they need to know this stuff too it's it's not enough for
you to know what the rest of your family has to have buy-in on this and just don't give it to the
cats you can say it like that there's chocolate on the table Junior don't give it to the cats okay
I'm done I want to run down a few of the plants and flowers that are absolutely toxic to your cats
and you have to watch out first thing is Holly yeah the thing that your wreath is made of totally
toxic mistletoe bad news amaryllis daffodils uh if we're into you know the Easter holidays lilies
I mean we're talking a bite of an Easter Lily and your cat's in the hospital that bad take a look at
the list prepared by the ASPCA so don't freak out too much but do pay attention to what I'm saying
so the whole time we've been talking about the these sort of monumental issues and the hacks
that will help you get through any problems before they happen this one is not so much apocalyptic
but it is something that gives you an opportunity to know your cat better and to help Comfort them
and perhaps challenge them at the same time so what are we talking about catification can
save Christmas and New Year's and anytime where where family gathers where a lot of people come
into your house now sure your cat can be the total mojito cat inviting everybody in saying
hey here's a glass of eggnog whatever but that's not every cat and I think what we tend to see is
when there's a big Gathering of loud people your cat just can't take that amount of energy in but
even if there's like three or four people we can't just expect them to acclimate especially
when they're having to share the floor with everybody having to compete for floor space
is something that a cat doesn't need what they do need is catification more vertical spaces making
sure that you have perches in the windows you know they have Prime spaces where they can hang
out clear off the mantle man and just give them a place to chill and if you do that you create the
Cat's Super Highway which I've talked about before the ability for your cat to to circle
the room and I'm saying the living room right now without touching the floor that is an incredible
holiday hack because we want them to be a part of the celebrations and not just hiding under the
bed the whole time so it's not all about solving problems and providing hacks this hack is to build
cat Mojo I'll say it again catification is the key so there's links in the description to other
videos about catifying and you can't go wrong with this man written by me and cat style expert Kate
Benjamin really please pick this up it'll give you so many ideas about how to deal with all of this
and I would be remiss not to mention this this is my product here holiday stressed offer it's a
flower essence remedy you can put it in food water apply it topically spray it in the air around
their base camp around the living room and uh it really just helps energetically bring them back
to Center when things are flying out of control so there you go look my friends I will say it
again there is hope for the holidays I don't want to sound like the cat grinch here and say just
get rid of everything have just like bare floors you know all that you really can have a wonderful
holiday no matter what that holiday is there is a way through it so that you can have a festive
holiday your cat can have an amazing time with the family and nobody winds up tipping over a tree or
winding up in the ER I'm giving you all this this is like your fire drill this is stuff that you
can plan ahead of time and say all right I can do this I can do this I can do this or you can
be reactive about it and then you start getting angry at your cat and and that's just misplaced
so let's be festive let's not project let's not get angry let's keep cool let's stay out of the
hospital please so there you have it put on your Ascot put on your smoking jacket get in front of
that roaring fire which should be back there and have yourself a wonderful holiday whatever holiday
this is and I wish you and yours all light and all love and happy happy ho ho ho Mojo Joe didn't know
um and here's wishing you and your family all light all love all Mojo talk to you soon
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