We’ve had two cats over the years and neither showed any interest in the trees or dangly ornaments. We have family and friends with cats and no Xmas tree horror stories. I know cats can differ so your concern is understandable. I’m guessing people here might have ideas for deterrents.

Both cats and dogs in our home love to sleep under the tree. We have had cats try and climb trees which can result in a crash. We have also had cats show mild interest in shiny objects in eye sight. We've never had a tree knocked over. Every animal is different.

LOL, Elaine, Godzilla terrorizing the villagers!

It depends on the cat (and the weight (and shape) of the tree). Some cats never bother with them, but others can't stay away from them.

The woman I got Frances from made a point of telling me to never put tinsel on the Xmas tree because cats can eat it and get sick. No problem here; no tree. But Frances is a jumper. I've seen her jump straight up to the top of a six foot cabinet. I guess cat-proofing is like baby-proofing, but higher up.

I had the cat take it down once. It was a funny event, it landed on my Mom. She caught it really. After that incident we put an eye hook into the wall shelf and then tied the tree to the hook every year with fishing line. It didn’t topple over again after that.

Both cats and well behaved dogs can be iffy with glass ornaments. A normal dog wagging his tail can whack balls right off the tree on accident. With a puppy you have to be careful about the ornament hooks and the ornaments at their height. I have some funny tree photos on the years when the bottom was decorated puppy safe. 💚

For the few weeks a year the tree is up, I certainly wouldn't let that determine if I got a cat or not. If that's too bothersome for you, so will be the cat hair, the vomiting, the kitty box cleaning, the kitty box misses and dingleberries, the 4 am wake ups, and so much more. But you will miss out on all the love, the purring, the softness, the kitty cuddles and their unending cuteness that fills your life.

My girls don't touch my tree, but it's artificial and up on a table. When I was a kid, we did have a cat knock down our live tree twice, until we tied it up to the wall so it wouldn't go down. But since then, none of my other cats bothered with it. We also had a dog who used to bite the glass ornaments ... her gums would bleed from all the glass shards, so we had to move all the ornaments up and out of reach until we could train her to leave them alone. Every animal is different.

My father did not allow dogs in the house, but we did have cats, which were necessary to control the mouse population when I was growing up. I do not remember any cats bothering the Christmas trees, but by the time I was about 10, we had artificial trees, to prevent my father from chopping down a cedar tree and bringing it inside, as the rest of the family (except for him) were highly allergy to cedar.

Of all the cats I have had, none ever knocked a tree down. I remember a few liked to bat at balls close to the ground but never broke anything. After cutting our tree every year for decades, we no longer have one because we spent Christmas Day with my daughter. The three cats I have now have never experienced a tree, but I almost dread the indoor decorating I do because Willy is quite interested in everything. But I never get poinsettias because my one yellow cat ate a leave and couldn't meow for a few days.

My indoor cat doesn't climb or really bother the Christmas tree either. I've caught her sitting near it and staring.......at what?

However, several years ago I began putting the tree on a table in the middle of the room. It's a 6' artificial tree, over 35yrs. old, an original Alpine tree from JoAnn Fabrics when those were first popular, pre-lit, with a "trunk" that looks like bark. Well, I should say LOOKED like bark. For some reason, starting last year, my cat gets up on the table and uses the tree's trunk like a scratching post! I discovered it one morning when I walked in and saw all this brown shredded stuff on the tree skirt. Man, was I mad - so disappointed after all these years that tree was still in great shape. Never caught her at it during the day.

So now I wrap the exposed part of the trunk with aluminum foil before going to bed.

If you want some laughs, look on Instagram for clips of cats and Xmas trees.

My George likes to bunch up the tree skirt. He loves laying under the tree and sometimes will bat at low hanging ornaments. I catch him staring at the tree too. I imagine its the twinkling lights that he is watching.

I totally agree, it depends on the cat.

We take Aspen outside & he climbs trees, scratches trees marking them. We encourage it, stop & wait for him. Tell him good boy! An indoor tree wouldn't make sense for him to NOT climb it.

I also agree with Annie. The other night Ivan ran through the house SCREAMING @ 12:34AM...playing...calling to Aspen to chase him. Woke me up, DH slept through it. Super cute little guy! ❤️

We’ve had some cats who were uninterested in the tree. And some that wanted to play with the ornaments. My first cat always left a mouse under the tree for us. 🙄

Kitty liked to ”meatloaf” under the tree, she knew how cute she looked. Mia, or was it Kit, liked to chew cords, including tree lights. Chami liked anything thready, like thread or curling ribbon, so tinsel on trees and curling ribbon on presents were out. The rest of the cats we have had ignored the tree. No one ever climbed it. The one time it fell, had nothing to do with the cat. You just never know.

Get the cat. As with everything in the house, keep an eye out.

I’ve had four cats over many years Only one incident of a tree falling, but I think we didn’t have the tree in there quite right. Only one ornament broke. Since then we attach with fishing line just in case I have too many old ornaments I love.

They all have loved sitting under it though. Or hanging out on the couch with us looking at it :)

I counted 3 people in this thread with cats, that tie the tree to the wall. Each animal is so different though. My close friend would visit with her pets and one cat would eat plastic bags. You could not leave any plastic laying around. My current dog has a cardboard fetish. She will ignore boxes under the tree that are wrapped but as soon as they are unwrapped boxes - dinner bell! I can’t leave any cardboard laying around. She ignores the tree completely though. Pets are so much fun, so much easier than people sometimes.

Most cats just slept under the fake tree. One or two played with the balls. We just replaced the lower ones with unbreakable. I also quit using curly ribbon.The German Shepard puppy was the worst. He ate the plastic icicles, (I had replaced tinsle with plastic), chewed up everything else, etc.

I got married, got a cat, Christmas came and Edward climbed the tree and down it came with a smash. My new MIL had given me many lovely ornaments. Oh well. Well over the years while I have had the occasional young thing (as Edward was at the time) climb into the tree that was the only time the tree fell. Old cats dont climb trees on average. They look at the tree, steal ornaments (I always have cat friendly ornaments at the bottom) and play with them but for 44 years I have never had another tree fall.

This was taken in 2014:

Note the Christmas tree "trunk", the one she began using as a scratching post recently.

Poinsettias are very poisonous for cats!