This post is sponsored by Rachael Ray Nutrish, a company whose proceeds all go to support homeless pets. All thoughts and opinions are our own. Thank you for supporting our sponsors.
If you caught our blog post a couple of weeks ago, you know that we planned for this Christmas to be different than previous Christmases. We’ve always had a Christmas tree through the years, and our many cats have been great about admiring the tree but leaving it standing.
But, as you know, this February we adopted Lucky, a little dynamo of a cat! Lucky’s favorite fun is to climb (and knock things off every available surface) so we figured that we’d forgo a tree this year.
Well, then the holidays rolled around and the house seemed like it was missing something. It was the holiday season but it didn’t look like the holidays in our house. And, like baby’s first Christmas, we thought it would be fun to see Lucky’s reaction to this new addition to the house–even if just for a few hours. Last Christmas, Lucky was just weeks old and in the first of two shelters he’d call home before we adopted him–so it was time to show this little fellow what fun the season held!
And so we decided to give the tree a try for a morning. We put up the tree, and Lucky eyed it carefully…
…and then, to our surprise, he retired to watch it from a distance…
We made it through all day yesterday with no disturbance. OK, that was too good to be true; he must just be biding his time. I fully expected Lucky to topple the tree as soon as we fell asleep.
We went to bed, and I waited for the sound of the falling tree…or of a little cat scaling the branches. All was quiet.
And I thought how very different things were from this time last year, when Felix was fighting oral cancer. Felix loved the Christmas tree more than any cat we’ve ever had, and spent every night beneath the lights and ornaments, never disturbing a one.
Trying to fall asleep, I started to feel sad thinking about Felix, and then I began to hear some cat sounds…the pitter-patter of little cat feet coming into the bedroom. The next thing I knew, little Lucky had jumped in bed and snuggled beside me, as if to say don’t be sad. It was the very first time Lucky has done that; usually he plays at night then sleeps on the couch or in one of the many pet beds, leaving us to share our bed with Linus and Inca as well as our dogs Tiki and Irie.
But last night, Lucky spent the entire night cuddled beside me. In the morning, the Christmas tree stood as we had left it, not a fake little needle out of place.
We may not decorate the tree (that might be tempting fate!) but the Christmas lights in the house–and the joy of sharing this holiday with the newest member of our furry family–have definitely made us feel the holiday spirit once again.
- Cat Adoption: FAQ You Might Have - June 28, 2024
- Protecting Birds with Birdsbesafe Cat Collars - April 24, 2024
- Are Eclipses Dangerous to Cats? - March 4, 2024