Allergic Santa ready for pet nights

You better not pout, you better not cry, and whatever you do, don’t put a cat in front of Santa’s eye.

Santa, it turns out, is allergic to felines, which is putting a bit of a crimp in NorthTown Mall’s pet nights.

“If I touch them or if I brush up next to them, it sets me off,” said Santa, seated in an enormous red chair beneath a 20 foot lighted artificial Christmas tree in NorthTown.

He’ll place puppies on his lap, mug with macaws, and even smile with a snake.

But people with a cat will have to hold it themselves.

He’s learned the hard way: if he touches a cat, 30 minutes later he’ll be a redder-than-normal and less-jolly old elf.

On Tuesdays until Dec. 13, pet owners can bring their animals to the mall for snapshots with Santa.

Don’t start leaving Benadryl out with the milk and cookies, though.

Felines are still welcome – just not too close.

“If they come in, the owner has to hold it themselves at a little distance,” said the red-suited man who insists on being called Santa.

“That way the cat owners don’t feel slighted.”

He’s donned the suit for 11 years and has hosted pets for the last three years.

Donald and Elizabeth Savino traveled to the mall last week to have Santa pose with their two dogs, Hercules, a Yorkshire terrier and Pekingese mix; and Hope, a schnauzer and poodle cross.

Both lapdogs wore tiny bandannas around their necks, and while teenagers glared down from a balcony surrounding the tree, the dogs stared into the camera and Santa smiled as flashbulbs popped.

Other dogs came in for photos last Tuesday, some with little pink bows on their heads and some reluctant to part with their owners.

Santa had no horror stories of panicked dogs or unfortunate accidents.

“There are more accidents from kids than from dogs,” Santa said.

Photographers grab the animals’ attention by shaking sleigh bells next to the camera, said Staci Freeland, who was taking pictures Tuesday night.

She said pictures of Santa with dogs are easy to take.

“The animals are easier to get to pose than the kids,” she said.

“The kids are just infatuated with him, but the animals just don’t care.”