Cat-Proofing Your Yule Tree

Well my friends, it won't be long before the Yule season is upon us! As with many of our sabbat celebrations, one of the many things I enjoy the most about it is the peaceful, comforting atmosphere and tranquility which comes with this beautiful time of the year.

Among the many decorations is, of course, the symbolic and meaningful Yule tree. This year I have decided to get an early start on my decorating of the house. The feeling that it gives me is one of joy and contentment. This will also be Tabitha's very first Yule spent with us and for all we know first Yule period!

We learned a long time ago through living with cats that there are just certain things that they can't help but to do, and one of them is discovering the newness of a Yule tree, be it real or artificial. Ours has always been artificial (even though it really does look real).

 

I remember the first time I ever put up my tree, one of the cats we had at the time would go after the tinsel and before we knew it, we were pulling strings out of her you-know-what! I  learned very early on that decorating your tree with tinsel is extremely dangerous for cats because it can easily wrap around their intestines which could be fatal! From that time on, we never used it again and, instead, used other types of decorations in substitution such as strings of beads or bows ...

Also, if you take notice in the pic below, the last two rows of my Yule tree are bare. The reason for this is to help discourage my kitties tempation to play with the "little dangly things." The balls of my tree are made of glass encased in a croched yarn. Not only do they look pretty, but they serve the purpose of protecting the glass ball in the event that if your kitty does knock them on the floor they are much less likely to break!

The reason I am partial to artificial trees is because cats seem to be less tempted to try to climb up them as with real trees. Believe me, I have had friends that used to use real ones and now have decided to decorate with artificial because they got tired of coming home from work to a huge mess all over their living room floor. I suppose, other than the obvious, the main reason for this is due to the fact that they certainly do not smell real ~ cats are definitely not stupid! Whatever tree you prefer to decorate with for Yule, it is always very important to be mindful of our feline friends!