What better way to give your special cat a fantastic Catmus than to participate in our 2025 Secret Paws, a holiday gift exchange for cats and their humans!

While times are uncertain and funds are a bit crunchy, Secret Paws celebrates the holidays with you, your cats while sharing a bit of feline joy with your cat-loving exchange partner. It’s a kind of pen pal gift exchange from fellow cat-lovers and their felines.

My cats just love getting gifts

I am so excited to host and sponsor Secret Paws 2025, because my cats just love getting gifts! A few years ago, my cats received a squawking bird, and they spent endless hours playing with it. (And I spent endless joyful hours watching them). They were all aglee over their yummy treats. And their human was thrilled by the cool cards and books we’ve received since hosting the gift exchange in 2022.

Secret Paws is exciting & fun

We at Paws Cat-O-Sphere for Cat Lovers are happy to host the Secret Paws Gift Exchange. Even though the number of people blogging has seriously declined, Paws Cat-O-Sphere wants to keep offering the gift exchange, at least for this. Both kitties and their humans get a smile on their faces when they open the package full of surprises. There’s nothing more entertaining than felines playing with new toys. You get to guess what they will like best.

A purr-fectly fun kitty gift exchange

The past few years have been challenging, and we want to bring out the purr-fectly fun kitty gift exchange by sharing how fun it is. Even if you don’t have an active blog, please share on your FB or IG feed.

Here’s an example of how to use video to showcase the lovely gifts you receive in the exchange. Here, I am sharing a link to my YouTube video showing my kitties pawing it up with their goodies, plus an overview of how Secret Paws works.

Who Can Participate

Kitties who are part of a blog can participate in the Secret Paws Exchange. It doesn’t matter if you are posting regularly as long as there is a social media address where people can visit and get to know your cats.

However, what we do ask is that you forward a copy or at least a photo of your cats with their gifts.

Secret Paws is open to all kitties with:

• Blogs – One blog post with at least one share to social media, preferably in video format
• Instagram – 3 shares to IG, preferably with at least one reel
• YouTube – One video with at least one link to your social media account
• Facebook – 3 shares on FB, preferably with one video and one story
• E-mail lists
• Substack accounts
• Or anyone who just loves cats

Photos, Videos & Animation

We welcome all video, slide shows, and print content showcasing your beloved kitties with their new gifts. We also encourage you to share Secret Paws posts on all your social media accounts. It’s hard to promote Secret Paws without photos from participants.

Please email Paws your links, and we will add them to this page

Once you sign up, we will forward this Secret Paws Badge to share on your blog or other social media accounts.

How it works

We will try to match media (FB to FB and IG to IG), but we encourage you to share your Secret Paws on your social media accounts even if your main promotional medium is your blog or YouTube.. Examples include:

• Kitties playing with their gifts.
  Received my Secret Paws Package today.
• Getting ready to shop for Secret Paws, but keeping your gift recipient secret.

How to participate

If you would like to participate in Secret Paws 2025, please email the following information to Paws at our email address (bjbangs1@gmail.com) no later than December 8, 2025.

Paws Cat-O-Sphere is also sending an email invitation to last year’s participants, so keep watch for your personal invitation.

You may fill out the answers to the questions below, and they will be included in your email.

Questions about your kitties because your Secret Paws partner needs to know

• Your Name.
• Name of cat(s).  Please specify the names of the cats and the number of cats. 
• Email address.  
• Name of Cat Blog.
• Blog address. 
• Facebook page.

Sharing info

• IG Handle.
• YouTube Channel and address.

Contact info

• Complete Mailing address:  It’s important to include your human’s first and last name because some post offices will not deliver to an address without this, especially if you live outside of the United States.
• Phone Number:  This is for mailing purposes.  Some packages required a phone number.
• Would you be willing to ship a package to a kitty from another country?  (Remember, postage is higher and packages must be shipped earlier when shipping internationally).

Info about your cat(s)

• Favorite Color 
• Favorite Treat 
• Favorite Toy 
• Information on items that should be avoided (specific flavors, toys, treats, etc.)
• Anything else you would like your Secret Paw to know about you?

Let’s try to limit this to $35

With Petflation continuing to be out of control, this might be difficult, but you get the drift.

Important Information

Please send your information to Paws at bjbangs1@gmail.com by December 7, 2025.  The earlier the better.

Mom BJ will help sort everything out within a week, and we will email everyone their partner by December 8, 2025, so you can shop for your new kitty pals before the last-minute holiday rush. 

Keep the Secret Paws “secret” until you receive yours, and then post about your package on this blog and/or yours.  The Secret Paws person/kitty that you send to may not be the same kitty you receive from. 

Mail is slower than ever

Please make sure your Secret Paw gets their package by December 20, 2025.  Keep in mind, snail mail is even slower than usual, so you might want to consider using one of the one-fee express boxes.

We will also send everyone an invitation to email a link to their photos of Secret Paws, so we can post pictures and a thank you once you receive yours.

Here’s why

The online world and blogging community are changing by the minute. In 2017, blogging was a big deal. It’s a whole new world today. AI presents a whole new dimension. That said, we invite you to share Secret Paws on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or Substack, in addition to your blog or other online content. We know everyone is super busy, but Paws kitties begs you to cross-post, as it spreads the word about this fun gift exchange — one of the few for just kitties.

At least, we ask you to send us a photo of your kitties enjoying their Secret Paws gifts.

How Secret Paws started

We could not pinpoint the exact time Secret Paws started. I did find our beloved cat person, Paula Gregg, blogging about the gift exchange in 2017. Sadly, Paula lost her short battle with pancreatic cancer in May 2022, and many cat influencers scrambled to pick up some of the many programs she spearheaded. Paws Cat-O-Sphere picked up Secret Paws.

Paws incorrectly thought this was a project of the Cat Blogosphere, but I have been advised that this was incorrect, and it was actually Paula who came up with the idea.

Special Note:  If you know of someone who could use a surprise package during the holidays but may not be able to participate, please let us know.

All writing is original

While Gemini and Canva generated images in this post, BJ Bangs, administrator and human writer at Paws Cat-O_Sphere for Cat Lovers, did the writing.

About BJ

BJ Bangs, an award-winning cat writer and photographer, just loves cat shows and most anything cat. Her articles on why people go to cat shows have been published in the Cat Fancier’s Association’s acclaimed magazine ‘Cat Talk’. Other cat-related articles were published in the former ‘Cat Fancy’ magazine and Catster’s online Cathouse Confessionals. And her book ‘Who Needs Men, I’ve Got Cats’ received the prestigious Muse Medallion from the International Cat Writers Association. She has also won several awards for reporting, communications, and legislative advocacy.