Christmas is coming, which means putting up trees and decorations that your cats love, and perhaps that they love knocking down. If you’re like me, then if you’ve got kittens in your house, you might actually be worried about putting up your tree this year. Never fear, though. There are ways to enjoy your tree and still have a cat-safe Christmas.
Christmas trees can be a problem for playful cats and kittens
In 2009, when Chase and Kali were just rambunctious three-month old kittens, we decided not to put up the Christmas tree because we were worried they would knock it down and hurt themselves while we were at work for the day. We were scared that they’d break the glass ornaments and get cut, and we wouldn’t find out about it until they were going to need trips to the vet to get the broken glass removed. In short, we felt that putting the tree up would be a monumentally bad idea, so we didn’t do it.
We actually didn’t put up any decorations that year, to protect both the decorations, and the kittens. These days, we put up the tree, and our cats love to lie underneath. We have to be careful about what ornaments we put on the lower branches, though, because they will knock them off. Some people also secure their trees to the wall or ceiling to keep their cats from knocking the tree over entirely.
Putting up a cat-safe-Christmas tree
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have a cat-safe Christmas without worrying about these things? Cat Channel has a story that’s a how-to for how to build a cat-safe Christmas tree that your cats can even climb, to a degree. You should use an artificial tree (because live trees can be toxic to cats in several ways), and you can build or put platforms, or even a cat tree, right next to it so your cats can “climb” it safely.
Cat Channel recommends not putting lights on this tree, and using soft ornaments that won’t break, and also that you won’t miss if kitty claws see fit to damage them. In fact, writer Katrina Lotz recommends using cat toy ornaments, which you can find at Petsmart. That way, they can withstand your cats’ playfulness, and are safe no matter how much they’re batted, clawed, chewed, and knocked across the floor.
Lotz also strongly recommends avoiding or removing the lights from this tree, because cats like to chew the wires. A truly cat-safe Christmas tree will have no lights, and it also won’t have any tinsel on it (that includes tinsel garlands). Both of these are dangerous for cats.
You can have a cat-safe Christmas without limiting your decorations too much, if you know how to adapt some of them to your cats so they can enjoy them with abandon, but without danger. Follow these tips, and see how your cats treat your new, cat-safe Christmas tree this year.
