How To Keep A Cat Off A Christmas Tree, According To Reddit

Cats love Christmas trees. A lot of them love messing with the tree, even climbing it. They’ll knock off the ornaments, make needles fall, and even topple the tree. I looked through Reddit, where every user owns two hundred cats, digging through years of posts for the best advice on keeping cats from ruining Christmas trees or hurting themselves.

Buy or make a tree skirt

A store-bought tree skirt might block your cat from climbing, if you buy the right shape. Redditor Taricha_torosa suggests an extra-fluffy skirt. TheFrostedForest uses a fluffy tree skirt that’s comfortable enough to distract the cats from the tree itself. Or try a hard tree collar.

A ring of plastic bags stops some cats, as shown in one repeatedly shared picture, where a cat stares 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 laying tape down, sticky-side up.

• Mattsmith321 uses foil and tape.

• Bloomingnblossoming piles up gifts—and fake gifts for filler—in a ring around the tree.

Get creative

You might have to resort to extreme measures. Some of these seem sadder than no tree at all, so make your own call.

• Jadez7789 shows the paper tree they put on the wall, for the toddler to play with and for the cat to ignore.

• Zombilocks shows off their Christmas cactus.

• Pet_Rock788 wraps pine garlands around their cat’s usual tower, and sprinkles them with catnip.

• Fsaco anchors the tree to the ceiling. Gardengoddess52 uses a fishing line strung to a hook on the wall.

• FlerkenBait shows how to anchor the tree to the floor: strap that thing to a cinder block like it snitched on a mafia don.

• A pic posted by y3ahboiy shows a tree-top dangling from the ceiling, with the bottom missing. Even if this isn’t photoshopped, it’s a weird look.

• If you don’t normally get a Christmas tree, your cat’s love for trees might be an opportunity. The day after Christmas, Anneisabitch picks up a cheap tree just for the cats to play with.

Don’t add accessories that make the tree even more enticing. In this video of a caged mini-tree, the cats quickly yank the string of lights out of the cage.

Spray a repellent

Use a cat repellent spray. Rachaelcutie314 recommends peppermint. Cfrech59 suggests a bitter apple spray. MakiseKurisu23 uses citrus. You can get these and other repellents at a pet store.

Don’t use a fragrant medication like Vicks VapoRub. Some redditors suggest coating ornaments with Vicks, but the FDA warns against exposing pets to topical pain medications, including the camphor in Vicks and Tiger Balm.

Make a festive cat tree

If you just want a festive living room centrepiece, then turn your cat tree into a Christmas tree.

• Specious_bob built a cute cat tree out of Christmas-print boxes.

• Jenpriester shares a floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree that’s actually a cat tree.

Practice harm reduction

If your cat insists on batting at the tree, you can at least minimise the damage.

• Redditor AncapNomad suggests using plastic (or otherwise cheap and hardy) ornaments on the bottom branches, where they’re not as visible anyway.

• Don’t use tinsel, which is bad for your cats to eat, says gardengoddess52.

• Rabbithasacat leaves their tree undecorated for a day or two, so their cat gets used to it. By the time they decorate their tree, the cat’s already bored with it.

In some homes, cats and Christmas trees peacefully co-exist. There’s a whole charming subreddit of cats enjoying trees. Browse through it as your holiday de-stressor.