Cats and Christmas trees.

[LadyFlumpalot]

Hi all, looking for some advice as to how to manage our three year old Maine Coon and a Christmas tree.

We got her in 2019 and have not had a Christmas tree up since then for various reasons (illness in 2019, had one outside in 2020 and we went away for Xmas to a decorated cottage last year) but we would like to this year. How do you all manage to have a Christmas tree and a cat without the tree getting destroyed or your car getting hurt?

Dcat is an indoors cat so she will be around the tree all the time.

Any tried and tested methods for keeping both cat and tree safe?

Forgot my cat tax...

I would like to know this too as we have two new kittens that already like running up curtains!

Lemon scented tree shaped car air fresheners hung in low branches as decorations?

@LadyFlumpalot She is gorgeous! Here are my two

Mine never bothered trying to climb it, he’ll sleep under it and he bats baubles on the lower branches (so put your nice ones higher up!) but has never tried to get up it or in it.

You don't 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 this was last year. She made a very good decoration though.

None of my cats have ever expressed more than cursory interest in my (real) seven foot Christmas trees in the last forty years!
They have all preferred to hunt outdoors, or play with their own toys indoors. The odd cat has climbed about on the pile of presents, and one particularly intelligent one extracted her own present from under the pile and slit the wrapping to extract the catnip treat inside, two days early, but they have never climbed the tree or attacked the baubles.

Also looking for advice on this. Our adult cats are indifferent to it and have always basically ignored it. But we took on two kittens this year and I can confidently predict that they'll be a menace.

Our Maine Coon is a similar age, and wasn't interested in the tree (the first year we had her). We put cheap baubles at the bottom just in case, but thankfully no issues!

@OhhhhhhhhBiscuits 🤣 look at her face 😍

AWWWWWWWWWW They are adorable!

Her little face! Problem is, mine is huge so would probably topple the tree over!

Oooh that's a good idea!

We tied ours to a screw in the wall when one of the cats was a kitten

Now they’re all older they aren’t that interested, other than playing under it

After the year when the cat brought down the entire tree twice (smashed baubles, tree water, needles, with a cat and small children investigating the mess was not fun!) we now tie the tree to the window handle behind the tree (just a bit of string round the trunk about halfway up the tree and then looped around the window handles) and I don’t put any breakable baubles on the tree. As the cat got older it was less interested in climbing the tree but it remained interested in removing as many baubles as possible… new cat was at the climbing stage last year, so I’ll be tying the tree to the window again this year.

but he was cute when in the tree!

Our cat will ' guard ' the tree ! She also chews it. A quick Google told me real trees can be toxic to cats so it's an artificial one for us ( the non tinsel , plastic type 😥 )
Luckily she only mouths it and doesn't actually chew the branches off !
No lovely glass baubles for us , ditto lights to the bottom of the tree .

Over a lot of cats, they have all had disappointingly little interest in the tree, even as kittens.

As long as you don't put baubles right at the bottom, it's fine.

Our old tortie used to climb the tree every year without fail and pull it over. It was then a case of “my work here is done” and she’d ignore it for the rest of the holidays.

I just used to make sure everything on the tree was shatterproof and keep decorations off the bottom branches to reduce temptation.

Our cat has never shown any interest in the tree other than batting the odd bauble off, so I put the glass ones higher up.

Gorgeous kitty tax photos!

argos do a half tree pre decorated plus lights for £55. Can be hung from a wall. Might work.
I have 5 furry overlords- any tree would be matchsticks in 10 minutes. So no tree here and perhaps I shouldn’t comment. Sorry.

The first year I had my Siberian kitten she drank tree water and got diarrhoea. She proceeded to declare war on all the low hanging baubles, and kept that up for a year or two. She's mellowed a lot and for our part we've learned to only put unbreakable ornaments on the lowest branches and make sure the tree skirt can't be pulled open. However, she still tries to get at the tree water; maybe the memory of having her little poop-coated furry derriere hand washed in the bathroom sink isn't as traumatic for her as it was for me.

@LadyFlumpalot what a magnificent cat you have. I am very envious! My son has a Bengal who loves climbing but surprisingly did not climb his Xmas tree last year. He put best glass baubles on top and cheaper ones on bottom too. Only thing cat went for was a strand of tinsel near bottom of tree. My cats don't get the chance to climb my Xmas tree as I put it in conservatory behind glass door so it is visible in dining room and lounge but not climbable.

I know our 11 week old kitten is going to love the Christmas tree 😆. She tries to hit the ball on the tv if football is on, wraps herself around your ankles when you walk past, ran off with my sons homework and loves shoes!

I'm getting an artificial tree as some of the oil produced by real trees is mildly toxic and can cause irritation to cats stomach and mouth. I'm not using tinsel or glass baubles. Snow-globes sometimes contain anti freeze so dangerous if knocked off. I'm going to tie decorations on really securely and tie the tree to the wall. I'm not going to place any cat presents under the tree that contain catnip or treats and will put new interesting toys in an area away from the tree. I'm going to put kitchen roll tubes over wires.
It's more of a mission than having a toddler 😄😻

I tie my tree to the French window handle just in case, though she hasn't tried to climb it at all, despite being an enthusiastic climber in the garden.

A previous cat infiltrated the neighbour's house, ran along their mantelpiece and leapt into the middle of the Christmas tree, causing devastation.

They did it again the next day