I won't keep poinsettias because of the cats though my BFF got me a gorgeous hand painted one (a place here does some really cool things with them) when we had our old kitchen so I put it on a pretty inaccessible counter next to the stove. In our new kitchen, I'm finding paw prints on the range in the morning, or after returning home, and some things knocked off counters--so apparently there are no safe places for one now!

As for a tree--we haven't had one since losing our much loved previous cats, who never, ever touched the tree (ok, two years in a row, when we stayed in PA a few nights to spend Christmas with DH's family, we came home to find one small, lightweight brass ornament that had been hanging on or near a bottom branch just sitting on the floor between the tree and the door to our condo, but that was it). They'd sleep under or next to the tree, tried to drink the water in the stand if it wasn't covered by the cloth we used as a tree skirt, but never bothered the tree or the ornaments.

The two we have now--I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them! One especially. She jumps up and either bats at or rips off the flower buds on my hibiscuses which we recently brought in for the winter. Can you imagine what she'd do with a Christmas tree and all those tempting ornaments?

*sigh* someday I'll see my ornaments again, LOL!

My three cats pretty much leave the tree alone now. But this is Riley's(our year old puppy) first Xmas and he thinks the ornaments are his toys. Most of my ornaments are needlepoint, wood, etc - all hand made over the years. All my collections of Santas etc had to be put up high. I went and bought a bunch of toys for Riley to help distract him from the ornaments and sprayed the lower half with lots of bitter apple. So far it seems to be working. Oh, and he's not allowed in the living room without supervision.

My cat is destroying my artificial tree. He left it alone for the first three days and today he has climbed twice. In the process, his 13lb butt has bent a bunch of branches, he has knocked about 10 ornaments off (but not the hooks which is always interesting), and messed up all the ribbon I had wrapped around the tree.

My tree now looks like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Boo hoo.

Over the years,I've always had cats and they have always been fascinated with climbing the Christmas tree. I generally don't stop them,they can do what they want at night, and I'm not always around during the day. I find ornaments on the floor, tinsel eaten and thus "transferred' to the litter box. The worst was a kitten who climbed the tree and fell off, catching her back foot and getting hung up. I heard cat screams, ran and grabbed the kitten, getting much scrathed up in the process. She is now about five years old and still climbs the tree. My other cat is much older and no longer explores. She likes sleeping on the tree skirt these days.

Livvysmom,LOL...that is pretty funny.(although I'm sure not for you)
Jannie,dont you get worried about the cat eating the tinsel? I have heard it can kill them if it gets stuck in their intestines.

Well, my DH was so mad when he got home from work and saw our beautiful tree looking like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree -- branches were bent, lights were out, ribbon disheveled, and ornaments on the floor. He filled up a squirt bottle and set it next to the recliner.

Sure enough, later that evening, the cat started up the tree. One squirt from the bottle and that cat ran away like he was on fire. I have never used a squirt bottle on him because he is such a good boy but, I have to say, it worked. The second time all DH had to do was touch the bottle and the cat ran.

Now, if I could get him to stop chewing the branches.

My mother lilod is going to decorate her small tree with the cat's toys. My guess is that they will leave it alone. LOL

Part of the reason I don't decorate for Christmas is because of the cat(s). Mantaining a regular functioning household (sleeping, keeping the venus fly trap alive, poor thing, making sure ALL my dishes aren't broken, furniture isn't torn up) is enough work... I dare not triple my stress level by putting up and then trying to maintain the biggest scratching post/toy in their cat world.

This is our cat's 2nd Christmas and our pup's first with us. I've defiantly had better luck with artificial tree vs. real trees in terms of pet interest over the years. The fresh evergreen always seemed to make our cats go wild.

I remember one year our old tabby cat was found rolling in the evergreen centerpiece my grandma had brought over for the BIG family dinner. :) She wasn't amused, but he was having a great time.

Our little Manx cat loves to chew the ends of the lower branches and hide under the tree. Some mornings I find him just staring at it -lots of glittery, glass and mirrored ornaments! He tried to climb our artificial tree last year and it toppled over. That was the first/last time he tried that! :) We soaked the lower branches with bitter spray to keep him any none the less.

Our border collie has been surprisingly uninterested by it all. He barked at it a few times as we were putting up the tree and decorating, but otherwise has completely left it alone. BUT.... He does have his eye on one particular santa with a long wooly beard. I've caught him twice trying to nab it off the fireplace mantle. :P

The squirt bottle has taken its place by the tv remote and will stay there threw the holiday season. ;)