Like another poster, we tried to put non-breakable ornaments on the lower part of our tree when we had a cat. No tinsel, either. He left the tree alone for the most part, but he had a thing for one particular ornament. We still have the ornament and we always think of him when we hang it on the tree. He went a little nuts one year, and walked over to the creche after we set it up and quite deliberately knocked over all the people and animals with his paw. This was after we had him for several years without any other similar incidents and was quite mystifying.
The first year we had him, we were living in a temporary apartment. There was a corner created by a half-wall for the kitchen that was the perfect place for the tree. It also proved to be the perfect ambush spot, once the tree was up. He would hide back in the corner under the tree, and dash out to attack our feet and legs when we went down the hall to the bathroom or bedroom. He would then dash back under the tree. He seemed particularly pleased with himself if my wife yelled in surprise when he attacked. He never did this from any other ambush point, and only did it the first year. It must have been just too good for him to resist.
Our Dachshund took down a six-footer one year when I was a kid. That was an awesome sight to come home to - the dog was in hiding, the tree was on the ground, and ornaments were strewn everywhere. We never did figure out exactly what happened.
I need to bug my co-worker to post a video she got last year of her cat. He “nested” in the tree and batted his paw at everyone who tried to approach. It was hilarious.
I’ve only had one cat that thought the branches were green fuzzy arms waiting for her to jump into. She jumped from a higher shelf… once. After that she was content to hide all the portable ornaments.
We didn’t put up a tree last year because of the new kitten and this year only used plastic ornaments. We couldn’t wait to see her reaction. But so far she’s only burrowed under the tree skirt and made the “it stinks” face after smelling the ornaments.
They probably have dog slobber on them. If it has a face, the dog would snuffle it. And he absolutely loved Christmas tree time. We’ve caught him just staring at it with a big smile on his face. And he would beg us to turn on the animated singing snowman.
Mrs. J. used to make cranberry and popcorn strings to put on our Xmas tree…until the cocker spaniel we had at the time realized that popcorn was highly edible and yanked down all of this ornamentation (ignoring the cranberries). This was also the beast that got up on the table two separate times and ate whole batches of brownies I had made, not caring that Chocolate Is Not For Dogs, and ran around the apartment experiencing extreme chocolate diarrhea.
I had a cat who climbed the tree. Easily fixed, we just made sure to anchor the top of the tree to something so he couldn’t knock it over, and as he got older, he became less interested in the tree, so the delicate ornaments could come back out.
Then I got a pair of Pomeranians. One discovered he could get into the lower branches of the tree, no matter how many times I told him that dogs don’t climb trees. So the breakable ornaments went away again, but it was worth it, because it was fun to sit on the couch and have the dog in the tree staring at me!
When I lived in a small flat with Orly, we had a small live xmas tree. I put lights and ornaments on it but no tinsel in case she tried to eat it. Every morning I’d leave the flat with the tree standing, and every evening I’d come home from work and the tree would be across the floor with at least one busted ornament. Eventually I put a length of fishling line around the centre of the tree (about half way up it) and attached that to the hook by the window where the tie-backs for the curtain fastened. After that, Orly could have as much fun as she wanted with the tree and it wouldn’t fall down.
After that year, I had a much taller tree but did the same thing except this time I whacked a small hook into the ceiling and pretty much hung the tree from it. Once again, the cats could play with it as much as they wanted and it wouldn’t fall down. I bought some red and green ornaments from the pound shop to hang on the lower branches within easy reach of inquisitive paws, and the nicer more expensive ornaments go higher up where they are safely out of reach. Neither of the current cats is a climber so the higher branches are quite safe.
I don’t have pets now, but I used to have a cat that was intrigued by the Christmas tree. As soon as I put it up, he’d climb up in it and have a grand time. But as soon as we started putting up lights and ornaments, he’d climb back down and ignore it from then on.
I spoke too soon about my cat. I caught her gnawing on the wires of the tree lights, (on the new pre-lit tree!).
She’s also a box freak. Any box that enters the house is hers. if she can’t get in, she chews on it. So there may be problems when the gifts go under the tree.
One of my past cats use to steal the bows off the gifts, then run around like a maniac when they would stick to her fur.
Artificial tree, which is fairly light, so will not squash a cat. Unbreakable ornaments and lights (LEDs with plastic bulbs over them). No hooks on ornaments, so I don’t have to worry about a kitty cutting their mouth up by knocking one down and chewing on it.
