Cats and Christmas trees and decorations?

it wouldn't really matter where you put it, if they want to get at it they will find a way to get to it

Here's some tips I've learned from many years of living with cats. Home you find them helpful;

1) Make sure the tree has a solid base to reduce the chances of it being toppled over.
2) Position it somewhere away from things like shelves or furniture which a cat could use as a launch pad to jump onto the tree.
3) Place fragile or ornaments on the higher branches to prevent breakages. Avoid using tinsel as some cats will try eating it.
4) If you're planning to use tree lights, use a cable tidy hose to conceal the wires to prevent your cat from chewing or playing with them.
5) Surround the base of the tree with pine cones. Cats find them uncomfortable to walk on, so the more pine cones the better. You could also spray them with a few drops of a citrus scented essential oil. Generally cats dislike those smells, so they should help discourage a curious cat from wanting to get too close.

Most cats are curious about new items in the home and want to investigate them, so it's a good idea to provide an alternative activity for your cat. Something which is fun for them to play with should make the tree seem less interesting. This web site has some novel toys and you could even buy your cat his own Christmas tree;

http://www.cleopet.co.uk/cat-toys-c-501.html?osCsid=umf2vpdgu1gavg8sk0pcrg08s3

There are no fool proof ways. When my friend got their new cat and for the next two years, they had to literally put up a 4 foot tall circle of chicken wire around the Xmas tree to keep the cat out! He is older now and doesn't bother but he managed to dump one tree over before they fenced it in! And if you knew how big her tree was and how many ornaments it had then you'd know why the fence!

I had a cat climb up the center of my tree and stretch out on a branch and I just happened to see a face inside the tree next to an ornament! Try and get a cat out of a decorated tree without scaring it to death!

Put the tree up on a table.

Don't dangle ornaments off the bottom branches.

Don't dangle iccicles! A cat who swallows that stuff can die because it slices up the intestines!

Get shatter-proof ornaments. Figure out a way to anchor your tree to a table, the wall...whatever, or the cat will knock it over (several times) ALWAYS unplug the lights when you are not close by and if your cat chews cords., be prepared to cover them to prevent it. DO NOT place those special, breakable decorations in a place that the cat can reach. Yes, it may be a bare, blah Holiday, but less crying over broken stuff. Oh, and we once had a cat that peed on the gifts under the tree so don't put the packages out, until everyone is there to open them.

Avoid tree decoration that hang down form lower branches. Spend time right after you put the tree up with the cat telling him/her no if they go near it. You could invest in a small invisible fence device and a collar. We use that to train our cat not to go near the front door whites by a busy street. It dings before it zaps them ( make usr it is set very low) he learned to stay away after only one small zap..