The Ugly Truth About Cats and Christmas Trees

Yes, there are inherent difficulties between holiday wants from a human perspective and the natural needs of cats. But all is not scrooged as long as you think creatively and...wait for it...COMPROMISE! Happy (and safe) holidays, #teamcatmojo!

►►►IMPORTANT INFO!!!
*** There is some stuff that I think is common sense but I want to make sure I drive it home...

* When it comes to candles, they need to be out of reach of cats. Cats tip over candles and start fires. Cats burn themselves on candles. Make sure they are wall mounted or a place where cats just cant get to them. Same goes for incense.
* Wires: Cats get into Xmas trees and will sometimes chew the wires for the lights. You can treat the wires with substances like "Bitter Apple" - also use any of my suggestions for keeping them away from the tree in general OR don't use electric lights. Also there are products like LUME where you can feed electric cords through them from the tree to the outlet and your cats wont be able to chew through it.

DON'T FORGET ► ► Turn off your tree, put out your candles and incense when you can't supervise.

HAPPY AND SAFE HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

 
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"Light, Love & Mojo"

[CaneFu]

Years ago my parents used to live in a house that had a 15-foot high living room ceiling. After a few years in that house they decided to go all out and bought a 12-foot tall REAL Christmas tree. I was still a little kid back then and had a large orange cat who had grown to 22 Lbs. but he had never bothered the shorter Xmas trees. However, when he saw that 12-foot tree he couldn't resist and one day when he was the only one in the living room he decided to climb it, all the way to the top. My Mom walked into the room just in time to see my cat at the top of the tree as it crashed to the floor. Ornaments went everywhere and my cat dashed off and hid somewhere. Mom was great about though and was able to lever the tree back up by herself and clean up the mess before my Dad got home from work; he would NOT have been so understanding about my cat. That was the last year we had a real Xmas tree as my Mom shocked everyone and bought an artificial one the following year. My Mom and I kept what my cat did a secret between us for the rest of her life and Dad never found out, LOL. Both my Mom and Dad passed away almost 20 years ago and my beloved cat has been gone for more than 40 years, but it's one of those memories that comes back whenever I hear about cats and Xmas trees.

[eudemonia]

I put bells on my tree. I call them "cat alarms." They allow me to hear when the cat is messing with the tree and come intercept.

[deel]

Some tricks I've come up with over the years:
1) Use those super cheap metal hooks to hang your ornaments, because you can really twist them around the ornament loop so they're secure, then you can twist them around the branch too. Give it a test tug to make sure it's stuck, and you're good to go. Bat away kitties, that ornament isn't going anywhere!
2) Put your "good" ornaments near the top. Kitty can't reach them, and if they topple the tree then it's not likely to smash into the floor since that part of the tree is more narrow
3) Invest in a fairly good tree with LOTS of branches! The more dense the tree is, the less likely kitty will want to climb it, at least in my experience.
4) Hallmark sells ornaments that they call "Peekbusters", they have a motion sensor in them that will play sounds when motion is detected near the tree. I have a Yoda one. Kitties are not fans of Yoda yelling at them to stay away from the tree.

[_kass]

I switched to fake trees after my oldest 20yr old cat passed a few yrs ago. I found her in a tossed Christmas tree after Christmas. She always just laid under it as she loved the smell. Maybe she knew that was the smell she knew when rescued. ❤️ 🐈. I planted a Christmas tree in my backyard and placed her ashes with it.

[elihinze]

Dried orange slices make for a cozy traditional ornaments, AND it seems they're great cat deterrents! 🧡

[jeandiatasmith]

I'm allergic - so artificial tree it is. I found just allowing time to put it up keeps the cats uninterested. I bring everything out and let it sit while the cats sniff and look at it. Then I unpack the tree and again, wait for them to become disinterested. Then I put up the bottom section. Wait. Then I can put the whole thing together. Wait. It's pre-lit, so I light it and wait. Pull out the extra light strands, light them on the floor. Wait. Put them on the tree. Wait. By now, my cats just like watching the lights and have lost all interest in the tree. I can now put on the garland (which has already been on the floor and inspected), the ornaments (plastic one's on the bottom in case they do want to swat one) and even tinsel (NONE hangs below the tree or in a breeze!). They stay completely interested in watching the sparkles than playing with them the rest of the year. They seem to look forward to when I turn the lights on for the evening. Takes me about 3 days to finish - but it's worth the time.

[Bo-kqtn]

only Jackson Galaxy, and I mean ONLY Jackson Galaxy, is allowed to call himself cat daddy and still be cool.

[joyalexander]

The first cat we had LOVED sitting under the real tree we had. She loved the lights, the smells of the live tree. And she thought the Christmas Skirt was put there just for her to curl up on. Sure do miss that cat.

[DetectiveHouse]

Yeah, my cat climbed my fake Christmas tree anyway. 😅 But then again, she climbs everything. I adopted her when she was 5 weeks old after she had been rescued from a tree.

[melanieszelong]

Jackson Galaxy: just wanted to say we took your advice. on the first day of putting up the tree, our cat climbed it and knocked it over. The next day we bought a cat tree, put lots of new toys on it, and used some catnip to encourage him . We also sprayed our tree with a cat deterrent, and put orange peel around the bottom. The one or two times he showed interest in the tree we told him no and then moved him to the cat tree and gave him a treat.

[Heowa]

Actually, hanging citrus slices into your tree sounds like a nice idea, no need to disguise them...

[malindastevens]

To be honest I prefer a fake tree over a real one. Despise the pine needle mess that you're cleaning up even six months later

[MirandaTheShinigami]

I've always had a fake tree while I've had cats, including now & she doesn't care about it, she just avoids it when walking.

[UmmYeahOk]

Me: "I love my precious little angel!"
Jackson: "Your cat is a killer! He is programmed to kill!"

[vonny]

I used to have a cat that was obsessed with the satin ball ornaments. My mom went and bought a bag of small red satin balls for her and hung them on the lowest branches. Every so often we would see my cat trot through the house with one of her prizes. She left everything else alone. It worked great.

[Alfred-F-Jones]

We've gotten real trees for Christmas as long as I can remember. When we noticed our cats trying to drink the tree water, my dad and I built this cool little cover out of plywood that fits around the trunk and locks tightly to the base. It has a flip lid that allows us access to the tree so we can water it, and the lid locks too. That instantly solved our problem, and it was super cheap to make, so I totally recommend something like it for anyone who insists on getting a real tree (as long as you're diligent about the needles! We make a point to vacuum the room with the tree in it at least twice a day. Strangely enough, none of our cats have shown interest in leaping into or climbing the tree, but I think they just enjoy their cat trees and catwalks more.)

[jmorgan]

Another no no on the tree is tinsel. It can prove deadly if ingested so just don't bother with it.

[wintergreen]

When my cats were flying kittens, we took a plain wall and put up xmas lights on the wall in the shape of a xmas tree. Presents went on the floor under the 'tree' and it was a fun change-up. Of course we had to forgo ornaments those years but it worked. No catastrophes.

[anniecarbonneau]

My cat (who passed away years ago but I still think about her a lot of course) was shocked and disappointed when the tree (artificial) came down. It was her secret hiding place (even if she couldn't climb it) and she loved to admire the baubles and lights that I hung way too high for her to reach. Poor thing looked like she went through a mini depression afterwards. She got over it, but was pissed at me for a while.

[AmberAMC]

We've always had fake trees, so I taught my kitties from the first Christmas we had together that they could mess with the tree in a gentle way. One of them isn't super interested, but the other one LOVES climbing it. Pretty sure it's her favorite time of year 😂

We also make sure to get shatter proof ornaments so when she inevitably knocks a couple down while climbing, no one gets hurt and they're easy to put back up. One of my favorite pics of her is her little head poking out of branches, surrounded by lights. It's so precious.