Kittens plus Xmas tree... bad idea?!

[SophieGiroux]

Wondering if anyone has any experience of what kittens are like with a Xmas tree? Ours are nearly 4 months old now and I usually put the tree up on 1st Dec but will it be a nightmare with them climbing it and pulling everything off?

I have always had multiple cats, and every year we secure the tree to the wall with fishing line and a screw in hook. The cats have never knocked over my trees.

@Aquamarine1029

I have always had multiple cats, and every year we secure the tree to the wall with fishing line and a screw in hook. The cats have never knocked over my trees.

That's a very good idea, think we may try that!

Kittens make great Christmas tree ornaments...

Ours looked at the tree and carried on walking, all cats are different, the little darlings!

GREAT idea!

When mine were little they would climb the tree and sleep in the branches. I swapped all of my baubles for non-breakables, it’s fine now they are too big to climb up it!

Well, the kittens will love it of course
Ever since we adopted our cats, we have just had a token tree that's too small for them to actually climb.

They don't mature with age either when it comes to Xmas trees and baubles. My 14 year old DCat still loves to dive under the tree and send the baubles flying. He also loves to chomp on the tree so over the period of Xmas I end up finding little tips of Xmas tree dotted about the place. Thankfully he's never shown interest in climbing up it although now if he did the whole thing would come crashing down

My cat climbs it like, well a tree lol she’s been known to sleep in it for hours at a time. Now a older lady cat but still loves it. Surprisingly it’s not destroyed or gone over, yet

We tie the tree to the wall and don't use baubles or breakable ornaments and it's been fine.

We have three cats and even the six year old will try and climb the tree each year

It’s a kitten playground for the winter.

We had a disaster one year when the cats climbed the tree and it jerked over in top of my husband eating dinner and broke several precious ornaments. Cats I had earlier in my life never bothered.
My Maine coons will be 7 months old when we get our tree - I'm worried but not enough to not have one! I might leave the precious ornaments off this year though.

Christmas Tree - kitten Thorpe Park.

Up the tree before we had a chance to the decorations on

And after …

Yep mine as youngsters had the tree over- it was fine

@MyTwoBengals the Angel was already sorted though

The baubles and tinsel were popular too

This is from Cats Protection :

If you’re a cat owner, it won’t surprise you to find that cats love Christmas trees. Some cats are keen climbers, and a lit-up tree presents a challenge they won’t be able to resist. Others are attracted by sparkly decorations.

If you’ve purchased a real Christmas tree and your cat tends to nibble or lick, you’ll need to be mindful of your cat ingesting any parts of it. Some oils produced by these trees can be toxic, making your cat very unwell. Fertilisers and plant food can also be harmful to cats. You’ll also need to make sure you pick up any fallen needles to save them injuring delicate cat paws.

Decorations also present hazards for cats at Christmas. Hanging baubles can look like fun toys for felines, and glass baubles in particular can shatter easily. Tinsel can cause serious illness if ingested due to the blockages they can cause. It some cases, this can even be fatal.

Ed says "go for it" he's sure your kitten will love it just as much as he did!

Loving the pictures of the Bengals!!
I think I might just wait til nearer Xmas to put it up this year so at least it won't be over a month of stress! One of them does have a taste for rubber so I'm hoping the lights will be safe 😬

And Ed!

Even if they don't climb in it (my chubby, clumsy cat wouldn't manage it!), they might still knock off the lower baubles so you're best putting non breakable stuff there.

Nothing on the lower branches works as well, but apparently it's odd according to my household members. Of course, it's not them replacing them every morning either 🙄.

Ours bat at a bauble or two the day it goes up and then ignore it.

DCat1 has a bauble fetish so much so he gets his own pack to bat under the fridge. It’s like all their Christmases have come at once on tree day. This year we have a 5 month old kitten, I will decorate the tree beautifully then lock it away in another room they can’t get to
I remember the year DCat1 and 2 were sitting in it as I was building it 4 cats 2 trees it will be carnage