Valentine's Day Treats for Cats: What to Hand Over and Skip

The short answer on valentine's day treats for cats is fish, in small pieces, from a bag and not from the dessert table. Everything else in a Valentine house, from the bouquet to the chocolate box, stays up high or out of the room.

We make freeze-dried fish treats in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and cats are on the list of animals they are made for. This page covers what we hand over ourselves. Then it walks the house the way a cat sees it from the windowsill, with the vase on one side and the chocolate box on the other. It is a short list. Most of the day is about what to leave alone.

Valentine's day treats for cats from the bag

Fish is the whole answer here, and it comes from our line only. Four of our fish treats work for a cat, and each one is a different shape on the counter.

• The Freeze-Dried Pink Salmon has one ingredient, wild-caught pink salmon, in a 1.5 ounce pouch. The pieces are medium and break into small, quick-reward sizes.
• The Freeze-Dried Whole Sardines are whole fish, small to medium, and the only ingredient is sardines. The bones are small and come out brittle after freeze-drying. They come in 1.5, 3 and 6 ounce sizes. A whole sardine looks like a whole sardine.
• Captain's Catch is a seafood medley of squid, octopus, shrimp, clam and mussel in a 1.5 ounce bag. It is not a single ingredient treat, and the pieces vary in size and shape from one to the next. The octopus looks like octopus.
• The Freeze-Dried Minnows are whole marble goby minnows in a 2 ounce bag, with a crunchy whole-fish texture. Size and color vary piece to piece.

All four are freeze-dried in small batches here in Pennsylvania with nothing added. The rest of the cat treats we make are in the locally made cat treats collection.

Handing it over

Break a piece into a few smaller ones before it goes in the bowl or on your palm. The label says to feed it as a treat or meal topper, to provide fresh water and to supervise while feeding. That is all we have to add to it.

The first time, offer one small piece of one fish and nothing else new that day. If your cat is on a special diet, or has never had fish, ask your veterinarian before the first piece. After that, a few small pieces on Valentine's Day is a fine amount for a treat. The bag is not a meal.

Fish from a Valentine dinner is a different matter. Salmon off a restaurant plate arrives with butter and garlic or a glaze on it, and that is the reason we would skip it. The plain bag is the Valentine's Day treat on this page. Keep the freeze-dried fish sealed and in a cool, dry place after you open it, and keep the minnows out of direct sunlight.

The bouquet

The bouquet is the first thing we check. The ASPCA plant entry for lilies is the one to read before any flowers come into a house with a cat; we leave lilies at the store.

Lilies stay out of a house with a cat. Mixed bouquets sometimes have a lily tucked in among the other stems, so look through the bunch before the vase goes on the table. If you find one, take it out of the house instead of moving it to a higher shelf.

Roses

Roses are the one other flower we will speak to on this page: the ASPCA plant entry for roses is the one to read, and the petals and stems stay off the floor.

The chocolate box

The ASPCA's page on people foods to avoid says this about chocolate. Its line reads: "Chocolate, coffee, and caffeine are similar in that their toxicity concerns stem from their methylxanthine concentrations (a group of compounds found in these products)." The full page is the ASPCA's list of foods to avoid.

Skip it, all of it. Close the lid and put the box in a cupboard instead of on the coffee table. The truffles, the cocoa dusted on the dessert and the chocolate cake are the same answer.

Cream and cocktails

Cream from the dessert is a skip as well. A saucer of it is a Valentine's habit, and we would hand over fish instead.

The same ASPCA page says this about alcohol. Its line reads: "Alcoholic beverages and food products containing alcohol can cause vomiting, diarrhea, incoordination, depression, difficulty breathing, tremors, changes in blood pH, coma and even death." Glasses get set down on the floor and on the arm of the couch during an evening. Keep yours on the counter, and take it to the sink when the evening is over.

Making the day for a cat

If you want the day marked, put a few pieces of fish in a small dish, set it down somewhere quiet and leave the cat to it. That is the entire plan. The Valentine page on our shop, Valentine's Day at Sniff and Shift, has the rest of the season.

Cat questions

What can a cat have on Valentine's Day?

Fish from our line, in small pieces. Skip the chocolate, the cocktails, the cream and the dinner plate, and keep lilies out of the house.

Can a cat have the salmon from a Valentine dinner?

We would skip it. Salmon from a dinner plate usually has butter, garlic or a glaze on it. The salmon we make has one ingredient, wild-caught pink salmon, freeze-dried with no added ingredients.

Can a cat eat freeze-dried sardines whole?

Ours are whole sardines with small, soft bones that freeze-drying keeps brittle. Break a piece into smaller ones and start with one.

Is there a freeze-dried shrimp treat for cats?

Not shrimp alone. Captain's Catch has shrimp in it along with squid, octopus, clam and mussel, so it is a medley and not a single ingredient treat.

Are roses fine to have around a cat?

Roses are the one flower we address, and the ASPCA entry for them is quoted above. Lilies stay out of the house, and anything else gets checked on the ASPCA's plant list first.

How many pieces should a cat get?

A few small ones. The label says to feed it as a treat or meal topper, and that it is not a complete diet.