Pet reactions to holiday celebrations
When I was a teen we had a dog who hid in the garage when July 4th firecrackers went off. But he loved Christmas, knew which pile of gifts was his, and tore into them as the rest of us opened our presents.
Last night, on New Year's Eve, my fearless feline defended the home front from a sky monster.
Somebody several blocks away set off a series of fireworks at midnight. Kitty sat up straight in full alert mode when the ratta tat tat sounds penetrated into my upper floor apartment. I went to a window to watch. Kitty followed, jumped onto the sill next to where I stood and stared at the color shooting into the sky. She stood on all fours, head and neck stretched forward, ears perked up, eyes glaring. I heard a low rumbling sound and saw her chest vibrate. It was not a sweet, contented kitty purr. She was growling a warning to the sky monster not to get any closer.
And it worked. After another minute, the color bursts and noise stopped. Mission accomplished. She jumped off the sill and strutted across the room, but her ears stayed perked up a little longer in case she was needed again.
I slept well, knowing I was protected by a brave guard cat.
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When my Poops was a baby, many years ago, I kept hearing a strange noise unlike anything I had ever heard. It sounded... weird. Like, kind of mechanical, kind of gurgle-y, combined with the sound of a person extending the letter “V.” Weird. Of course, my boyfriend was never in the room when the noise happened. A couple weeks later, he finally heard it.
It took us about a month to realize it was tiny kitten Pooper growling at squirrels and people walking by our ground floor apartment. 
We’ve had many cats and I’ve never heard one make a sound like that.
She eventually grew out of it and I still miss it.
