Halloween is a wonderful opportunity for kids (and many adults) to engage in fun and frivolity, but for cats it is filled with dangers—some of them extreme. This article shows you how to make the holiday delightful, not frightful for your cat.

Background: Why is Halloween Scary for Cats?

Throughout history, Western culture has had a love-hate relationship with cats, especially black cats. Although the ancient Egyptians revered cats, our culture has maintained various unpleasant superstitions about them. Starting in the Middle Ages, certain groups associated cats with witchcraft and evil and actually believed that witches could turn themselves into cats. Far too often, misguided ideas about cats have led to the violent persecution of both cats and people who cared for them. For instance, in the 16th and 17th centuries, tens of thousands of cats, and humans accused of being witches, were cruelly put to death.

Today, although cats are the most popular pet in the United States and other Western countries, mean-spirited anti-cat bias still persists, sometimes with disturbing echoes from the past. Unfortunately, some unstable people who have been exposed to callous or hateful attitudes toward cats use Halloween as an excuse to capture cats and viciously abuse them.

Because Halloween season seems to spark violence against cats in general and black cats in particular, many shelters refuse to allow adoption of black cats during the month of October. Unfortunately, this does not protect cats who are normally outside during Halloween from would-be sadists and other miscreants.

Felines face additional dangers from Halloween that typically do not occur with other holidays. On Halloween night, there are great numbers of people outside, including children who may be quite rowdy on this occasion. Teens and adults attending or returning home from Halloween parties may be emboldened by the role-playing and faux-satanic nature of the event—and possibly alcohol—to commit acts of cruelty toward cats that otherwise might never cross their minds (or at least be stifled by common sense). Keep in mind that Halloween parties may take place throughout October and even early November.

Combine all these dangers with increased traffic, noise, and shouting, and the great outdoors can turn into a very frightening, unsafe place for a cat.

To continue reading, please visit CatHealth.com

(Note: If kitty shows an abiding interest in the outdoors, as a compromise between her wanderlust and her protection you may want to consider training your cat to walk with a harness and leash.)