Choosing a cat-safe Christmas tree

9th December 2019

If you have a cat and you want to make your home look festive with a Christmas tree, take a look at these top tips to ensure you choose the right type of Christmas tree that will be suitable to have in your home with your cat.

Real or fake?

Real Christmas trees can drop needles and become embedded in curious paws or cause problems in intestinal tracts if consumed. There are varieties of real Christmas trees that have anti-drop needles which could be a good option, or better still, a fake Christmas tree rules out the problem of dropped needles altogether.

Half Christmas tree

There are fake Christmas trees available that have a long trunk with branches that start halfway up, keeping the branches and hanging decorations out of reach of your cat.

Pencil Christmas tree

This type of tree is space-saving and narrow, so that it can be tucked into a corner, out of the way of the main thoroughfare in your house. If you have an energetic cat, they’re less likely to get entangled in a pencil Christmas tree.

Decorations

Opt for wooden or plastic decorations and avoid glass which could be broken and cause injury. Avoid putting Christmas tree decorations on the lower branches and place them higher up the tree where they’re more likely to be out of reach. Tinsel can cause problems if shed fragments are ingested and Christmas lights might be a tempting chew toy, so they’re best avoided.

Christmas tree enclosure

If you have a particularly curious cat that just won’t leave the Christmas tree alone, you could put the tree in a metal enclosure so that your cat can’t get to it. It might not look as pretty, but it will certainly prevent accidents happening.