How to Keep Your Cat Out of the Christmas Tree, According to Reddit
Cats love Christmas trees. Many of them love to tinker with the tree, even climb it. They will knock down decorations, make needles fall, and even cut down a tree . I took a look at Reddit, where each user has two hundred cats, digging through years of posts to find the best advice on how to keep cats from ruining Christmas trees or hurting themselves.
Buy or make a wooden skirt
A store-bought tree skirt can prevent your cat from climbing if you buy the correct shape. Redditor Taricha_torosa offers a very fluffy skirt. TheFrostedForest uses a fluffy wood skirt that’s comfortable enough to distract cats from the tree itself. Or try a stiff wood collar .
A ring of plastic bags stops some cats, as shown in one repeated photo of a cat looking at a fully decorated Christmas tree surrounded by plastic shopping bags .
If your cat loves to play with plastic bags, you can try a different material.
- Redditor dontakelife4granted uses crumpled foil.
- Dangerstar19 suggests putting the tape sticky side up.
- Mattsmith321 uses foil and tape.
- Bloomingnblossoming collects gifts – and fake gifts for filler – in a ring around the tree.
Get creative
You may need to resort to extreme measures. Some of them seem sadder than the complete absence of a tree, so make your choice.
- Jadez7789 shows a paper tree that they hung on the wall for the kid to play with and the cat to ignore.
- Zombiloks display their Christmas cactus .
- Pet_Rock788 wraps pine garlands around his cat’s regular tower and sprinkles it with catnip.
- Fsako attaches the tree to the ceiling. Gardengoddess52 uses a line drawn from a hook on the wall.
- FlerkenBait shows you how to attach a tree to the floor: tie this thing to a cinder block as if it were tapping a mafia don.
- The pic posted by y3ahboiy shows a tree-top hanging from the ceiling , with the bottom missing. Even if it’s not photoshopped, it looks weird.
- If you don’t usually have a Christmas tree, your cat’s love for trees might be a good opportunity. The day after Christmas, Annesabitch takes a cheap tree for the cats to play with.
Don’t add accessories that make the tree more attractive. In this video of a mini-tree in a cage, cats quickly pull the garland out of the cage.
Spray repellent
Use a cat repellent spray. Rachaelcutie314 recommends peppermint. Cfrech59 offers bitter apple spray. MakiseKurisu23 uses citrus fruits. You can purchase these and other repellents at your pet store.
Do not use scented medicines like Vicks VapoRub. Some editors suggest covering decorations with Vix, but the FDA has cautioned against exposing pets to pain relievers , including camphor in Vix and tiger balm.
Make a festive cat tree
If you just want to decorate your holiday living room, turn your cat tree into a Christmas tree.
- Specious_bob built a cute cat tree from boxes with Christmas prints.
- Jenpriest shares a floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree that is actually a cat tree.
Practice harm reduction
If your cat insists on hitting the tree, you can at least minimize the damage.
- Redditor AncapNomad suggests using plastic (or other cheap and hardy) decorations on the lower branches, where they are still not as noticeable.
- Don’t use tinsel that is bad for your cats, advises gardengoddess52 .
- Rabbithasacat leaves their tree unadorned for a day or two, so their cat gets used to it. By the time they decorate their tree, the cat is already tired of it.
In some homes, cats and Christmas trees coexist peacefully. There is a whole adorable subreddit where cats enjoy trees . View it as a stress reliever on vacation.