Top 3 Ways to Keep your Cat out of your Christmas Tree

Despite the warmer weather during this so-far mild winter, the holidays are finally here!  It’s time to deck the halls, smile a little bigger and hum carols while baking cookies.  It is also time to make your way outside to chop down the perfect tree to decorate to the nines for your friends and family to enjoy and admire.  Do you know who else is admiring your tree, possibly secretly planning their attack strategy from underneath your sofa?  Your adorably fuzzy cat.  Now, we know that you love your cat, but when the Christmas tree gets set up, your cat most likely turns into a mischievous fur ball with an insatiable penchant for all that glistens and jingles.  What is a homeowner to do?  How can you keep your beloved cat from wrecking the halls?

Try a Different Type of Tree

Give yourself a break from standing guard with your water bottle waiting to spritz your cat when it even thinks about looking at the tree.  No one has time to be a Pinkerton Guard around the holidays!  Instead, work smarter, not harder.  When you are walking around the tree farm looking for your holiday winner, skip past the Douglas Firs and take a look at the Blue Spruce trees.  This tree is a beautiful choice for a Christmas tree!  The colors range from a silvery blue to a dark green and the branches are sturdy enough to support heavier ornaments without branches sagging.  The needles of the Blue Spruce, averaging an inch in length, grow in a bottle-brush style and are prickly to the touch.  The needles of this tree are unappealing because cats don’t like to come in contact with anything irritating.  Your cat might climb this tree once, but it can virtually be guaranteed that they won’t attempt a second trip!

Tree and Furniture

When picking the location for your tree, for most it is obvious to set it up for display in front of a window, but is that really the best location when it comes to your pet?  Take a look at how your furniture is arranged.  Now imagine all the things your cat can climb on to access the tree.  A little butt wiggle and BAM, they launch into the tree knocking it over, leaving you to clean up the wreckage while they scurry away.  When setting up the tree, be sure to look at the layout of the room and rearrange the furniture accordingly or set the tree in a place that isn’t directly next to anything of significance your cat can use to get closer to the temptation.

Fragrance

Treat your family to a snack of fresh oranges after your tree in the stand.  Not only are the oranges healthy for your loved ones, but you can use the peels to keep your fury feline away from the tree!  Take the peels and hang them from the branches underneath the tree by the trunk.  Cats do not like citrus smells, but humans do!  It’s a win-win!  Replace the peels every few days, because once they dry up, they become useless.  There are sprays on the market to spritz on your tree to keep your pets away, but they are laden with chemicals; most prefer the orange peel method because it is a natural approach.

Lastly, if you can bring yourself to leave the popcorn and cranberry garland off of the tree, it would be to your benefit.  Cats have a keen sense of smell and if they are hungry, which we know they always are, they will want to climb the tree to nibble on the stringed treats.  Replacing the edible garlands with pine cone garland is a festive alternative, and cats also have a disdain for pine cones!

Cats have an innate need to climb and push your buttons.  So while you are sleeping, they are plotting and planning on how to clobber this bright, shiny object that only seems to appear once a year.  By being proactive with your strategies, you can avoid disaster before it strikes.  Holidays are meant for cheer and quality time with your loved ones, not frustration and quality time with your broom and dust pan cleaning up broken ornaments.  Follow these 3 ways to keep your cat out of your Christmas tree and we guarantee you will have a Meowy-Christmas.

Happy Holidays from your friends at MasterPLAN Landscape Design!