If the Christmas tree is the tallest thing in the living room, your kitty has probably already sized it up. From where they’re sitting, you brought a whole tree indoors and hung little toys at every level. Fair enough. How about a place to climb that gives the ornaments a fighting chance?
Figuring out what to get your cat for Christmas is more fun if you picture them opening it. One cat will be halfway into the box while you’re still peeling off the tape. Another will disappear until the guests go home, then emerge to give the whole thing a very thorough sniff. We’ve got ideas for both, and our cat gadgets guide has more if your cat’s wish list runs long.
1. A Place To Climb That Isn’t The Christmas Tree
Why not give your kitty a seat up high where they can see the whole room? The TRIXIE Lounger Wall Mounted Cat Shelves come with two steps, a hammock and a little hideout. Picture your cat climbing up while everybody’s still in the kitchen and settling in just in time to supervise the arrival of your guests. You know the little schemer is already sizing up which guest has the most inviting shoulder.
We’d put the shelves on the wall opposite the tree. Right beside it, a perfectly nice gift could look like a new route to the angel. And once the decorations come down, the cat still gets the best seat in the room. That’s a present we can picture them using all year.
2. What To Get Your Cat For Christmas If They Ambush Your Ankles
You know the feeling of walking past the couch and suddenly finding an extra set of paws around your ankle? That cat might enjoy PawsPik’s Hide & Seek toy. A motor moves the feather in and out of hiding, which gives your cat time to crouch, watch and decide exactly when to make their move.
That little pause before the pounce is half the fun to watch. You can join in with a toy they can catch and carry away when the feather game winds down. The feline environmental needs guidelines make the same point about play that lets cats complete the hunt. On Christmas morning, the first official catch can be an old stuffed mouse. A beloved toy still looks pretty good under the tree when your cat is the one who put it there.
3. A Holiday Kicker Worth Wrestling
Some cats go in with both front paws, tuck their chin and start kicking like the plush mouse owes them money. This is their present. You may even get your old mouse back.
The KONG Holiday Kickeroo is a long catnip plush dressed for the season, so there’s a satisfying amount of toy to wrap around once the back feet get going. The holiday character varies, which makes the unwrapping a small surprise for you as well. We’d love to watch somebody open it at the table and try to explain it to the relative who thought the cat was just getting treats. A cat who walks away now may be hugging it under the dining table by dessert.
4. A Chirping Ball For The Hallway Sprinter
There’s a special kind of quiet right before a cat comes around a corner at full speed. If you know it well, we think you’ll enjoy an evening with the PawsPik Chirp & Chase ball. It chirps and rolls after a tap, so your cat gets the pleasure of setting the thing off themselves. You get to find out whether they’re a straight-up sprinter or the type who disappears around the other doorway to cut it off.
A stretch of bare floor gives that chase room to happen. This could get the whole room watching. Someone taps the ball. Everybody watches the cat pretend they didn’t notice. Then the cat decides it’s time, and all that calm is over in about half a second.
5. A Warm Seat Of Their Own
You come back with a fresh cup of coffee and your cat has already taken your chair. Look how comfortable they are. You’re probably going to sit somewhere else.
K&H’s Thermo-Kitty Mat is an indoor plug-in pad with a removable heater and a washable cover. We’d give it to the cat who keeps finding the sunny bit of rug even as the sunny bit gets smaller. The gift is a warm place of their own beside wherever you like to sit. If there’s a spot near an outlet where they already curl up, you can imagine the whole scene. One person reading, one cat blinking very slowly, and the chair situation finally resolved for at least the length of a cup of coffee.
6. Dinner For The Cat Who Comes Back For Seconds
At dinner, one cat eats a little and wanders away. A second cat arrives and would be delighted to help with the leftovers. You’ve seen this episode. You’ve probably stood beside a bowl trying to change the ending.
The SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder Connect lifts its lid for the cat whose microchip or tag it recognizes. Once that cat has wandered off, the lid closes over the food. The feeder has a mode that lets a cat get used to the moving lid in stages, and the SureFeed automatic cat feeder review gets into how the chip-reading setup works. Separate feeding stations can make sense for a household with two different dining styles, and our best automatic cat feeder for multiple cats guide compares those setups. We like this as a present for the friend who spends mealtime helping the slower eater get their share.
7. A Treat-Tossing Camera With A View Of The Good Chair
Somebody in your family always asks how the cat’s doing while you’re away. Maybe it’s you. It’s nice to be able to say, “On the chair,” with a picture to prove it.
The Closer Pets TreatView gives you a live view and lets you send a compatible treat from the app. For a cat who’d rather be admired than fed, Petcube’s pet cameras include models that simply watch. We’d point it at a little slice of the house your cat already passes through, like the path from the sunny window to the good chair. The first time you’re home together, you get to see whether the cat strolls over for the treat or sits exactly where they are and makes you wait. Either way, you may have a small holiday film to send the family after dinner.
8. A DNA Kit For The Person With A Camera Roll Full Of Toe Fluff
There’s a very particular kind of cat person who can pull up six photos of the same paw. If they’ve also spent an afternoon wondering where all that toe fluff came from, a Basepaws cheek-swab kit could be right up their alley.
Basepaws uses a cheek swab to report similarities between a cat’s DNA and its reference groups. Our Basepaws cat DNA test review explains what comes back, and our best cat DNA test guide shows how the kits differ if the family has one particular question in mind. We’d put a little toy in with the kit and write “one for you, one for the cat” on the tag. The toy gets opened now. The report is something to look forward to after everyone’s gone home and the house has gone quiet again.
Leave A Box Open
The Christmas gifts for cats we get excited about are the ones that give us a little more time with them. We get to laugh at a kicker match on the living room floor or look up and find the cat presiding over the party from their new shelf. The cat gets a Christmas afternoon that looks an awful lot like their favorite kind of afternoon. And if they spend most of it in the plain cardboard box, honestly, it was a good box.
Shopping for the rest of the household, too? We also have ideas for what to get your dog for Christmas and what to get your bunny for Christmas.
