Search YouTube for “cats and Christmas trees,” and you’ll find multiple “humorous” compilations of cats batting at ornaments, chewing on tinsel and strings of electric lights, jumping onto and climbing decorated trees, and more often than not, as the grand finale, toppling them to the floor.
While we don’t want to spoil anyone’s holiday fun, as veterinary professionals, we find these videos cringe-worthy because of the many serious dangers to the cats starring in these productions.
If you have a Christmas tree and a cat you love, we strongly encourage you to keep them apart! Here are the main reasons why:
- Strings of lights that plug into wall outlets can cause severe electric shocks and start fires when a cat who likes to chew discovers a tasty wire or light bulb.
- Cords intertwined with branches can strangle a cat that gets caught up in them.
- Water in a live tree stand, perhaps treated with fertilizers and preservative chemicals or contaminated with bacteria, can cause severe digestive upset if a cat drinks it.
- Real or artificial evergreen needles, branches, tinsel, ornaments and ornament hooks are tempting to most cats and may be swallowed whole or in pieces, potentially causing internal injuries and blockages that require life-saving emergency surgery.
- Other injuries can happen when a cat climbs or leaps high enough to make the tree top-heavy, causing it to tip over, crashing the cat to the floor and shattering lights and ornaments on impact. Nearby pets and children can be injured by the falling tree and scattered glass shards.
Why Cats Like Christmas Trees
Here’s a 10-minute video on cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy’s YouTube channel titled “The Ugly Truth About Cats and Christmas Trees” in which the host explains, “Destroying everything tree-related in your house is nature to cats, so we have to think of holiday-time diplomacy.”
Jackson presents an overview of tree-related hazards along with explanations for why cats instinctively find Christmas trees so irresistibly attractive. He also offers a number of thoughtful suggestions for reducing the risk of Christmas-tree-related hazards to your cat.
More About Making Your Tree Less Attractive to Your Cat
For more ways you can make your Christmas tree less attractive to your cat, see “How to Cat-Proof Your Christmas Tree (10 Tips & Tricks)” on YouTube’s The Purring Journal channel.
Be advised, this video shows cats doing dangerous things to illustrate its points. Definitely don’t let your cat try this at home!
“How to Keep Your Cat Out of the Christmas Tree,” posted on the Preventive Vet website, offers training tips as well as detailed instructions for securing your tree, keeping your tree from being climbed, using scents and jingle bells to repel your cat and offering a tree alternative to your cat.
Pet health products manufacturer Zoetis Petcare’s article, “How to Keep Cats Away from Your Christmas Tree,” offers a number of practical tips to cat-proof your tree and keep your cat away from it altogether.
In “How to Keep Cats Out of the Christmas Tree,” PetMD weighs in on the topic, including a recipe for making your own cat deterrent spray out of rosemary, vinegar and lemon juice.
They also recommend motion- or heat-activated sprays and cat training mats to startle your cat when it approaches the tree. (We would recommend using these aversive methods only as a last resort.)
As a simpler, less stress-inducing solution, Pet MD notes, “Many cats absolutely hate the look, sound, and feel of aluminum foil. So, if you want a quick, easy fix to keep your cat away from the tree, create a sort of Christmas tree skirt with sheets of aluminum foil taped together around the base.”
Nearly all the video producers and authors recommend arranging furniture and positioning the tree to remove “launching points” from which the cat can spring into the tree.
One idea we especially like, presented in multiple articles and videos, is to provide your cat with an attractive alternative to the Christmas tree, such as a new cat tree stocked with toys and treats.
In Case of Emergency
If, despite your best efforts, your cat gets into your Christmas tree and gets sick or hurt as a result, during office hours, call the clinic immediately at (317) 852-3323.
After hours, call the nearest of the emergency clinics listed in the right sidebar on all pages of our website.