Best holiday gifts for pets

The whole family should enjoy celebrating the holiday season, including your furry, feathered, or scaled friends. However, as you browse pet stores or search online, you might wonder what to give your pets this year to help them ring in the season. Below, you'll find a handful of creative holiday gift ideas to keep your pet healthy and happy. 

Holiday Gift Ideas for Pets 

1. Puzzle Feeders
Keeping food out in bowls throughout the day may cause dogs and cats to overeat and become overweight. Luckily, you can slow them down and make meals more fun by providing them with puzzle feeders. These devices hold food in various compartments and require animals to manipulate them in certain ways to release kibble. In addition to making meals last longer, this can provide pets with extra exercise, as they must work to solve puzzles before eating. Puzzle feeders hidden around the house give cats the chance to use their natural hunting and foraging skills, leaving you with a more interactive content cat. They also have the advantage of separating you from being the only source of food so your hungry kitty is more likely to search the house for nibbles at 4am rather than wake you up. Got a pet bird? Hiding food in paper boxes, dried pasta, or stuck into cork can provide them some fun mental stimulation and keep them active.

2. New Beds
If your pet has sensitive joints or arthritis, it might be difficult or painful for them to lie on the floor. Instead, a new bed can make your dogs and cats feel more comfortable while resting and taking naps. If your furry friend enjoys sleeping in warm areas, a heated bed can match their body temperature and ensure they remain cozy. On the other hand, if your pet likes to sleep in cooler spaces, an elevated bed with a steel frame can create a breezy effect that prevents the bedding from becoming too warm.

3. Interactive Toys
Most pets enjoy playtime and the opportunity to spend time with their owners. As such, giving your pets interactive toys for the holidays can help them get the most out of playtime, while also getting extra exercise to maintain a healthy weight. These toys may also provide mental stimulation to improve cognition and prevent boredom while you're away from home for the holidays. For cats, you might choose products that simulate the hunting experience by popping toy "prey" out of various compartments, prompting your feline to chase and pounce on them. For dogs, digging toys featuring fabric flaps under which you can hide their favorite toys and treats will let them have fun foraging and retrieving them.

4. The gift of good health!
We are an animal hospital, after all - the most important gift on our list is a checkup! We can catch your friend up on any needed preventive care and look for any minor ailments that may have creeped up over the past few months. Itchy or dry skin, slowing down, drinking more - all of these can be helped with the right diagnosis and a plan that fits your busy schedule.

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