First time cat owner. Will the cat wreck my Xmas tree ?

[Fakepower]

And if so is there anything I can do to prevent this ?

Mine never bothered with the tree. Maybe bagged low hanging ornaments occasionally but weren't bothered about climbing the tree.

They did, however have a cat tree and a high shelf they could sit on so had no need for a high perch. Also they were outdoor cats, every cay I've know to destroy trees are locked in and bored or very young.

I got a kitten last summer. She wasn't interested in the Christmas tree at all.

He managed to remove all all the branches so we gave up

our kitten climbed the tree the first year we had her, she knocked the baubles off and used it as a scratch post , each year since then she’s left it alone.

I always have a 7 foot real Xmas tree with very expensive glass baubles. I have 2 cats 1 tries to climb the tree the other doesn't. I put mine in the conservatory so you can see it but it's behind glass.

1. Yes
2. No

At 9 months, she sat in it.
Approaching 2, she sat in it, and pulled off as many baubles as she could.
Approaching 3, she tried to sit in it, but chickened out, and pulled the low baubles off. Loved sitting underneath it.
Approaching 4, slept under it.

We have a new orange cat this year and I suspect there will be chaos. He’s two in January and a little menace.

Our previous girl (who we sadly said goodbye to in April) used to pull down decorations to play with but leave the actual tree alone - the only time she toppled one was when we had a fake tree during Covid. I think she got the fright of her life.

Wrap some tinsel round the cat tree and call it a day. The cat will end up in the tree anyway 🤣

One of mine pays no attention whatsoever, the other one seesit as a personal nemesis and chews through the strong that hold the baubles. DD is a late teen now so we just have a little tabletop tree instead.

My cat knocked my tree over and smashed several treasured decorations :-(

It was a cat fight with an invading cat and he tried to flee into the tree!

After that I got a heavy iron stand and attached with cable ties to a 3ft square of plywood (drilled holes through the plywood for the cable ties

This was good against both cat and toddlers. Better than a fence (which surely won't stop a cat anyway

the elder of my girls still climbs the tree. What I started doing after a few years was putting it up for a few days undecorated so she got it out of her system. I still find plenty of the ornaments removed overnight for playtime. If they are happy I’m happy.

I had a little felt robin hanging on lower branches. I came downstairs one morning and found a felt wing on the stairs, body nowhere to be seen. A few days later I found the body, clearly deliberately hidden, under the sofa. The one winged robin still gets hung up but higher up the tree, and I let her keep the wing as a souvenir

Depends on the cat. Mine just taps the lower baubles and drinks from the tree stand. Also loves to curl up in the corner behind it and pulls the hessian I use to hide the stand to fashion himself a bed to lie on. Never climbed it though.

Really depends on the cat. Mine destroyed the tree the first Christmas that we had them but they were only small kittens. They've never bothered with it again.

None of mine have ever cared.

I've two cats and I was very apprehensive the first Christmas I had cats - I had visions of the Christmas tree toppling over and having to take it down. To my surprise, the cats weren't all that bothered with it. They were probably a bit curious and they did bat one or two of the baubles. But they never tried climbing it. Now, they weren't were kittens when we got them - the vet reckoned they were maybe two years old at that point. That was four years ago and we've put it up every Christmas without any issues.

Disclaimer: Obviously I can't speak for all cats.

Have had 3, 4 if you count the one that my parents adopted. No Christmas tree or decoration issues with any of them.

I sold my Christmas tree when Troy was a kitten so 14 years ago. After he died I didn't get another one as I find it a faff. Haribo is now 5 and he will never know the pleasure and excitement of a Christmas tree, it would probably freak him out anyway.

Ours was a pain with the fake tree we had one year but has never given more than a second glance to the real one we usually have.

He'll sit and tap the low hanging baubles but no interest in trying to get into the tree or climb up it, not even when he was a kitten.

Our cat knocked ours over once. Now we put bricks on the base and cover with a skirt. Also orange peel. They hate it

Neither of our cats have ever gone near the trees. Our old boy who's been gone a couple years, but had for over 18y , just ignored it every year.

Our 13 old girl just does not care either.

Mine sit under it and might pat the lower baubles, but they don’t damage it at all. When they were kittens we didn’t put the lower branches on (fake tree, obviously).

We have 4 month old kittens, one of which loves to climb up the curtains so I'm sure the tree will be a delight for him.
I'm leaving off the breakable decorations and just going to go with the flow this year!

Oldraver
Your cat is so gorgeous. I guess the tree upset him in some way?