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 is a big boy so it wasn’t so much climbing up as climbing in it until it fell over. Only when he wanted attention- it was very deliberate. Bloody bugger! We’d had the fake tree for around 20 years so the fact that he broke it was annoying. But no one can stay mad at him for long!

I’m thinking of trying a real tree this year in the hope that the smell and needles put him off.

One of the joys of having cats is waking up in the morning and finding three cats sleeping inside your Christmas tree.

My cats love the tree and play with decorations but have never ruined it.

They seem to enjoy lying or sitting under it.

We’ve never had any bother, they were 15 months old at their first Christmas with us, we did secure the top of it to the wall behind for the first couple of years though (string attached to a hook). We put non-breakable baubles on the bottom rows, its not that they climb but they do go underneath and if they knock one off and it breaks on the floor while we’re out we don’t want them treading on or lying on the shards. All baubles secured with twisty wire hooks. We have real trees, always Nordmans because they are very dense and the needles aren’t sharp. They have never tried eating any of it. Oh and battery operated lights not mains, but they have never tried to chew any cable. In fact they don’t chew any household stuff, only scratch at certain things.

My cat tries to eat the tree. Real or fake 😫 we have to shut the door on it when we aren't there to protect her from herself 🙄

Don't put tinsel or "angel hair" on your tree - they will try to eat it and you'll have to pick bits out of their bum 🤢
Delicate baubles right at the top or at your own risk.

Depends on the cat - we've had four over the years. One has never shown any interest, one likes to lie under it but has no interest in climbing it, two would be up and in it in a second, and loved knocking all the baubles flying.

This will be our second Christmas with the youngest so we'll see if he's calmed down from last year 😂

We just put cheaper ornaments at the bottom when cats were young .One a bell is still known as Barry's bell and I place it at the bottom of my tree although the cat is been dead for about 20yrs but makes us all smile still .

I like putting mini crackers on the tree. The cat I had when DC were small always managed to get them off the tree and would bat them around the room. The last cat I had managed to grab some tinsel off the tree, managed to get it off her, if they swallow it , it can wrap round their intestines which can be very expensive!

My bigger 2 cats on their first Christmas, girl cat broke the top half off the tree on the night I put it up.. A bit of research helped me in the following years and will be doing the same this Christmas as have a young kitten. (I tested his reaction to a squeezed orange - he backed away while hissing)

Put up the tree as desired, get a selection of oranges, lemons and limes. Roll around in your hand till softer, stab several times with a fork, place in the microwave for 60 seconds and squeeze a little juice out of. Hide on the inner branches of the tree and under the tree skirt. Citrus is offensive to cats, so they will want to avoid it. The citrus fruit is also safe around children and is a cheap solution. It has worked for 5 years for me

I think if it did climb the tree then the tree would just very gently tip over and then you would stand it up again.

Mine did that when they were kittens but after that the cat just slept under the tree like a present.

We tie ours up 😊 🎄

Felix never climbed the Christmas tree (too fat) but he did chomp on practically every Christmas I've had. The one I had when I was with my exh was a tall slim one covered in fake snow. We spent one xmas with it decked out in loads of flattened cardboard boxes and cardboard boxes at either end of the sofa to try and stop the nibbler. Prior to that the lower branches had cinnamon and chilli powder sprinkled on them and orange peel dotted round in the hopes it would stop him nibbling them. No it seemed to entice him even more. The tree I've got now is missing a good chunk of its lower branches because any time he was in the room with it he'd chew them off. I could pull him out from under the tree but within seconds he'd be back under there chomping away. Last Christmas apart from when he still lived with my ex was my first one without him. It felt so strange not having to go no Felix stop that Felix. Bauble wise he only ever really knocked them off getting under the tree so the non breakable ones used to go on the lower branches. It ended up being me that smashed my beautiful glass eyore bauble when it slipped off the branch as I was hanging it up and smashed all over my wooden floor.

*tree

I think I have weird cats! Mine will be 9 in December and have never climbed the tree nor batted a bauble! Though one of them does chew the branches so we have spent some Christmas with half a tree (I took the bottom half branches off).

Last year, now my children are older, I put presents around the tree so Chewer couldn't get to the branches. Problem solved. Just go with the flow this year then you'll be prepared next year.

Generally kittens will climb the tree. Once they are older they lose interest.

That. None of ours ever tried to climb the Christmas tree post-kittenhood. Once was enough for them to learn that it wasn't a great idea. .

They loved patting the baubles though, and getting in the way while we decorated the tree. But isn't that part of the fun of having cats?

My older cat will meow for soft food and if I say no (because he's had loads) he will go and destroy things. He will knock things off the fireplace or benches and if we have the tree up then that's he's number one target. My other cats can't be bothered to go near it.

It varies. Our first two were totally not interested. Then we got two kittens, one of whom climbed everything so we decided to not have a tree - instead I have fairy lights strung in zigzags across the entire living room and hang ornaments from those.

Then cat number 5 came along and he's a complete loon, so sticking with the fairy lights.

Haven't read all the replies but just be aware with a real tree you are bringing an outside thing inside and the cat will assume it's okay to piss up it 🤣, it is an outside thing after all.

Yes, yes they do climb up them and wreck the trees............

We've always managed some kind of Christmas tree, haven't had young cats though. They've generally gone for the lower baubles a lot. We usually stand it up on a stool or something.

I’ve got three. One couldn’t care less about the tree, one will be excited for the first five minutes and then go back to sleep and the third tries (and fails) to climb it.

My sweet late boy would unhook the low-hanging baubles and carry them around!

Ours have never been remotely interested in Xmas trees, my sister’s pull hers to pieces so she doesn’t have one any more. It’s just down to luck which type of cat you have I think!

Buy tree, put it up, leave for a week while cat gets curiosity out of its system (climbing up it!).
Then decorate. You'll still lose a few decs, so don't go crazy with John Lewis glory, stick to B&M for year 1.