5 ways to include your pet in the holiday festivities

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the holidays are officially upon us. for our families, that means extra family time, special trips and meals, and a whole lot of togetherness. heather and i both have pets as a part of our family and we cannot leave out our little furry members of the family when the holidays come around. here are five things you can do to include your pets in the holiday festivities.

1. give them a safe haven.

underneath our christmas tree is our kitties' favorite place to lounge and sleep. amidst all the crazy of the holidays, the animals can get exhausted too. on top of our tree skirt and right by the heater vent is the perfect location for our cats to snooze. the kids have been told that particular place is off limits to little hands. it is where the cats can go to escape. with extra holiday treats being consumed by my kids and the excitement of the holidays, it's just what those poor kitties need to function with five kids running around. there are many occasions i wish i could hide under there with the two of them. 

2. get the cats decorated for the season.

i realize i'm over the top with this one but i could not resist these outfits. i mean, come on now. they are just too much. i felt a little guilty after i put them on the kitties because i'm pretty sure they viewed the whole ordeal as a special kind of torture but the pictures still make me laugh and laugh. they will forgive me eventually.

3. include your pets in the holiday meal

now, don't think i'm too crazy here. i'm not someone who wants my pet sitting with us at the table. i'm also not as nice as my mom is. she used to cook all the giblets and feed them to our cats growing up. that's just too gross for me. i will, however, keep a couple of scraps of turkey aside to give our kitties a special treat.  i figure they have to smell all the thanksgiving and christmas goodness like the rest of us. the least i can do for them is give them a little sample. they normally get *nutrish cat food* which is all natural and made from fresh meats and grains so they are used to the good stuff. this just gives them a little extra dose of goodness and lets the kitties share in the holiday eating as well. i'm hoping the extra food will help them to forget the santa and reindeer costumes.

4. just let the bottom foot of the tree go.

it used to be that the bottom two feet of my christmas tree was destroyed by one toddler or another. i thought i had finally gotten to the year when that destruction would be no more. turns out, it wasn't all my children's fault all these years. my cats absolutely love the bottom of the christmas tree. with all the decorations and pretty garland to swat, they have destroyed that pretty foot of decorations like nobody's business. i figure after eleven years of not having a pretty bottom of my tree, i should just officially let it go. 

5. don't forget their stocking.

my kids absolutely love this. we don't spend a ton of money on the cats but we do get the cats a couple of new toys to play with, some catnip and other little treats to make them a part of the gift getting. each christmas the kids gather up the kitties and spend more time playing with the cats and their new toys than they do with their own. it makes the kids happy and the cats happy so it makes me happy.  it is a small price to pay for a one very merry family.

what about you? how do you include your animals in the holidays? 

*nutrish for cats*

we absolutely love nutrish cat food for our cats. here are some reasons why:

real chicken or salmon is always the number one ingredient in every bag of rachale ray nutrish for cats. there's no ground corn, wheat or soy. and there's never any poultry by-product meal, artificial flavors or artificial preservatives. just wholesome whole grains and veggies plus the vitamins, minerals and taurine your cat needs to be healthy and happy.

plus, rachael's proceeds help animals in need:

rachael's rescue was created for all of the forgotten pets — the ones that might not have someone who loves them as much as you love your pet. to date, proceeds from sales of nutrish have gone toward food, medical supplies and treatments for animals in need. many more shelters around the country need help, and through rachael's rescue, together we can make a difference in the lives of many four-legged friends.

make the switch to nutrish today. click here for a special coupon just for our readers.