Tuesday, December 20, 2016

#ShelterCatsLoveChristmasToo - 5 Ways To Ensure They Aren't Forgotten

Over the past couple weeks on Instagram I've been following the hashtag #CatsLoveChristmasToo. Our precious fur babies may not understand the reasons why we're in such a festive mood but I have no doubt that they're picking up on the fact it's not "business as usual" in our homes.

This got me to thinking about all the kitties still waiting in shelters for their forever homes, and why shouldn't they have the opportunity to enjoy our most joyous of holidays too? These are cats who won't have a Christmas unless someone brings it to them, so we put together some ideas to help brighten their lives.


1) Play Santa Kitty for your local shelter by bringing them a donation of toys and treats. (Small toys work best so you can buy more, but a few wand toys work great too.) Ask your community to donate as well! Then spend an afternoon socializing with the kitties and playing with their new goodies. I guarantee you'll end the day just as happy as the cats!

2) Let Amazon play Santa for you. Thanks to the wonders of Amazon Prime you can have anything delivered anywhere with no shipping charges, plus they'll include a gift receipt for you too! For instance, Tara and Truffles' Alma mater is a good one hour drive north for me, but I always like to send them a little something at Christmas. Last week they put out a call on Facebook for their mascot kitty's special diet food, so we hopped over to Amazon and bought them a bag, and also threw in a case of their favorite wet food and a fun pack of 20 assorted toys. 48 hours later our gift was delivered to their door!


3) Is your cat getting a new bed or cat tree for Christmas? If their old one is still in good shape consider donating it to your local shelter!

4) Grab a bunch of Christmas stockings at the dollar store, one for each cat cage (or dog kennel!) Ask the shelter to encourage visitors to stuff the stockings with toys and other goodies.When the animal is adopted their stocking can go home with them!

5) Foster a cat or kitten for Christmas. Have you ever read the book A Dog Named Christmas by Greg Kincaid? In the story a shelter seeks temporary homes for its dogs during the days leading to Christmas in an effort to clear the shelter for the holidays when there is not enough staff available to care for the animals. This not only alleviates the pressure on shelter workers but also gives the cat or dog a sneak peek of what Christmas in their forever home will be like...and who knows, maybe you'll end up discovering you can't live without each other! Wouldn't that be the greatest Christmas gift of all?


We can all do something to shower shelter animals with love and gifts at a time when they might otherwise be forgotten. After all, shelter cats love Christmas too!

Have you done something special for your favorite shelter this holiday season? 
Tell us about it!

19 comments:

The Swiss Cats said...

We support our shelter all year long, and Claire and Momo played Santa Kitty last week. Purrs

Momma Kat and Her Bear Cat (Katherine Kern) said...

I admit I'm lazy ... I have samples and treats from BlogPaws that I've been meaning to donate before they expire and I just keep forgetting. You make great points though ... I'm shopping later today and I should pick up some extras!

Summer at sparklecat.com said...

I love these suggestions! Thanks for blogging about them.

Unknown said...

What great ideas! If everyone just does a little bit, that adds up to a big difference for shelter animals.

The Menagerie Mom said...

I love love love this post! I always try to find ways to help out the shelter animals, especially at Christmastime, and you have such wonderful ideas here! I also love that you never forget Tara and Truffles' Alma mater. This is all so sweet and festive!

(P.S. We shipped your little goodie out in the mail yesterday. We're really sorry it took us this long to finish and mail it, and we hope it gets to you by Christmas. Please do let us know if you don't receive it!)

Cat and DOG Chat With Caren said...

As you do, we support shelters all year long. Our main way is to feature their adoption events, their widgets on our side bar of adoptable animals, sharing photos of other shelters' adoptable animals, plus, shelters are a part of our family. My "bonus" daughter is the Manager of a local shelter here in Michigan, "Almost Home". I have blogged about them (mostly on Dakota's blog).....and shared their special events as well. I also donate when I am able, this year, with it's financial challenges for our family has made that difficult to do. We also donate toys all year long. catchatwithcarenandcody

Anonymous said...

Great ideas, Melissa!

Priscilla King said...

I know for a fact that our local shelter has engaged in petnapping for profit. (It's been documented in newspapers--a dog of a valuable breed was "rescued" from his owner's little brother and held until the owner paid the dog's full market value.) The shelter also makes a lot of noise about a "no-kill policy" and then, in practice, refuses to take in strays they can't sell for a profit, so genuinely homeless animals are likely to end up being killed, only by someone else. These facts raise ethical questions about how best to help shelter animals. My suggestions would definitely include supporting laws protecting cats' right to hunt and capping shelter "adoption fees" at the cost of veterinary care.

oneponychick66 said...

I volunteer at a no kill rescue in Phoenix, All About Animals. I foster currently about 10 cars and kittens. We are doing a special Christmas Rescue this week. The kill shelter in Yuma has 20 pages of cats to be put down Christmas Eve. We are pulling as many as possible. I am getting 2. Also we are. Trying to get money together for medical for a poor overbred great Dane we pulled from a puppy mill. Her ribs are showing and she was trying to feed her babies!! Deplorable

Anonymous said...

Dat's pawsum Mudpie. We've donated in da past to our shelter, but alas, they won't let da shelter kitties have da stuffs. They take it home with them. :( We just wish our shelter kitties could find furever homes. It makes us really sad to think 'bout it. Anyways, great posty, we know there are good shelters out there.

Luv ya'

Dezi and Raena

Hairballsandhissyfits.com said...

Great thoughts about how to help out all our feline friends at Christmas! You are a sweetie!

Random Felines said...

great suggestions....plus if you use amazon smile when you order stuff, you can give back twice

The Florida Furkids said...

Those are great ideas!! We also use Amazon smile when we place orders :)

The Florida Furkids

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Melissa those were absolutely great ideas!

Three Chatty Cats said...

These are all great ideas and I really like #4!

pilch92 said...

Great post! I made a bunch of crocheted toys that are for sale at the vet clinic, all money goes to the local shelter. I should make more for the shelter kitties though.

The Island Cats said...

Those are great ideas. And there are so many things that shelters can use that aren't usually thought of...like laundry detergent and dryer sheets, paper towels, garbage bags...

Lola The Rescued Cat said...

We love these suggestions. Mommy usually brings a boat load of donations to Tabby's Place at Christmas, and makes donations to other shelters, too.

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