Making Your Christmas Tree Pet-Safe for the Holidays

Christmas is the time of year when homes are most decorated. Flashing lights, elaborate displays and even baked goods are placed throughout the home to produce a warm, cozy holiday feeling. It is also one of the busiest times of year for many and sometimes, we forget about how what we are using for decorations can affect our pets.

The Christmas tree is the most universal of Christmas decorations. There are several things to be cautious of when putting up a tree in a home with pets. This doesn't mean that pet owners aren't able to enjoy a tree; it just means that we have to be wearier of what we use on our tree and take extra care to monitor our pets around them.

The Tree

The tree itself appears to many cats as an exciting scratching post or a nice place to hide from other cats, the household dog, or even from their owners. The obvious problem here is many times, the tree ends up on the floor with many decorations destroyed in the process, as well as a huge mess to clean up afterwards.

To keep Kitty out of the tree, there are several options. Many pet owners find it useful to spray a perfume or other fragrance around the bottom of the tree. Cats find the smells offensive and would rather pass on their chances of climbing this new monstrosity in their home than get the odor all over themselves.

Car fresheners can be used as well, but can be quite ugly and gaudy. Because many cats prefer to climb up the trunk of the tree, locate these fresheners inside, near the base where Kitty will likely make his first move.

Lights

Let's move on to the decorations on the tree. A Christmas tree without lights just doesn't seem natural so this is one area where pets may simply need to be monitored rather than eliminated the lights all together. Many dogs, and even some cats, are chewers. When lights are on, it's important to be sure the Kitty or Rover are not tempted to chew on the lights. Light cords are tempting to some while the actual bulbs are tempting to others.