Cats And Christmas Trees

[susan denning]

My parents are close to being ready to put up our Christmas tree. I am not worried about my older cat who is a Christmas veteran and rather sedate. I do wonder about my younger cat as he likes to mouth things and I could picture him going behind our tree to hide and batting at ornaments. How common is it for cats to eat pine needles or to drink tree water? In other words do you think we can get by with a wait and see approach or would that be asking for trouble?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Very few cats actually eat pine needles. They may mouth them once or twice, but pine needles are not comfy for chewing on, so that helps. As for drinking the tree water, you can cover the water in the stand with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Most cats don't like the way it feels underfoot, and won't try to get past it.

As for batting the ornaments...what I do is put a few plastic ornaments at the bottom of the tree, securing them by squeezing the hangars closed. It give Hek something to bat at, so that she doesn't try to go for the higher ornaments.

 

[Bella's Mommy]

My cat loves to chew the pine needles too but she has never got in the tree yet lol

 

[weebeasties]

We decided to not put up a tree this year because Sam has a tendency to try to eat inappropriate things. Some things that worked in the past when Zuzu and her sisters were kittens were hanging the regular ornaments up higher and hanging jingle bell ornaments on the bottom layer of branches. They came from dollar tree- 6 to a pack. Whenever someone tried to sneak under (or climb) the tree those bells would jingle alerting us. The other thing I did was to keep a dustbuster beside the couch. When I would see them approaching the tree, I would turn it on and it would startle them and they would run away. To this day I think they think that scary sound comes from the tree!
Before I tried the strategies above, I did try soaking the tree braches with bitter cherry spray. It didn't deter them a bit. They acted like it was a condiment!

 

[susan denning]

Thanks all. My Dad reminded me that we had Felix (the younger kitty) last year without a problem. So, I think I will watch and see to start with.

 

[tabbytom]

Here’s an article on keeping your cats safe during the Holidays :-
11 Must-know Tips To Keep Cats Safe During The Holidays

 

[Columbine]

My girl has a real thing for Christmas tree chewing (or any other greenery, come to that ). Last year, we got some anti-chew spray, and thoroughly sprayed the tree with it before we set it up. It worked like a charm, and is pretty cheap and easy to do

 

[Purr-fect]

We no longer put any tinsel on our tree at all. I dont want it on even the top part of the tree that the cats cant reach because, if its on the tree, it can fall on the ground and the cats can eat it.

We have no ornaments on the bottom of the tree as the cats would knock them off and chase them around the house. Greg and arnold do like to hide under the tree and lie on the apron we put around the base of the tree.