Christmas Tree Safety Tips for Dogs and Cats

Christmas is one of the most colorful holidays with all the sparkly light, glamorous ornaments, especially delicious treats, and meals. Not only us but our pets are also intrigued by the holiday atmosphere.

Getting and decorating a Christmas tree is one of the significant parts of celebrating the holiday. You, your family members, and even your pets are sure all happy with the activities. But before you actually get down to the decoration, take a few minutes to check out the following Christmas tree safety tips first.

The biggest question here is whether Christmas trees are poisonous for dogs and cats? Well, it depends a lot on how we preserve them.

In fact, there is no 100 percent safe Christmas tree. Different Christmas tree types hide some potential hazards to our pets, so the solution here's finding the most suitable one according to your situation.

Flocked Christmas trees have become trending in recent years due to their lovely snowy look; however, as a pet house, you should remove them from your list first. Flocking is a serious concern about Christmas tree safety for your pet.

The flocking is nontoxic but still not edible to either pets or humans. Hence, some unwanted situations relating to your pets' health may happen if they swallow a significant amount of those imitation snow.  

If you want to go with an artificial Christmas tree, choosing a non-flocked tree would be safer for your paw friends at home. Besides the reason for imitation snow, the following precaution about a live Christmas tree will help you understand why an artificial non-flocked tree is probably your best choice.

Dogs and cats are super excited about Christmas trees, and they often try to chew on the limbs and branches. However, the fir tree oils and needles from branches can cause some irritating problems for your pet, such as drooling, vomiting, and even cause an intestinal obstruction. The situation can get worse and may lead to deadly consequences.

Compared to artificial Christmas trees, live ones seem to drop more needles. They also need chemical preservatives to keep them fresh longer. Those chemicals will flow with the water and stay down the tree stand. If you do not cover the tree stand carefully, there is a high chance your pets will drink that contaminated water. This is another Christmas tree safety concern for pets you should note on.

The most secure way to protect your pet from Christmas tree hazards is to keep them away from it.

You need to spend certain weeks ahead to train them not to get near the Christmas tree area. Let them learn some commands like "Stop," "Go away," or "Turn around" to distract them from approaching the tree.

If your pets are still puppies, kittens, or new to the house, building a pet pen will be perfect for this situation. Making a fence around the Christmas tree will help your pet away from the tree, breakable ornaments, gift boxes, and especially the water.

Making the Christmas tree glamorous depends greatly on the decorative lights hanging around from top to toe. But since you have your furry friends at home, it would be better to put the light cord on the higher branches and avoid the bottom part of the tree.

Also, as Christmas tree safety for pets, don't use edible decorations like candy can or chocolate to hang on the tree. Those delicious treats look like attractive baits to your pets, and they will try their best to grab some of them.

Since pets tend to chew on those colorful decorative items and quickly get into trouble, make sure you hang the light cord higher. Also, it would be best to replace candy and chocolate with something else or remove them totally to ensure your pet's safety.

The support of tinsel to the attractive look of the Christmas tree is undeniable. However, more often than you think, your pet will try to chew a few strains of tinsel. Just even a few amounts of that digested in your pets' stomach can lead to some deadly effects.

Glass ornaments are also dangerous to your pets. They're fragile and easy to shatter into pieces if your pets accidentally chew them. Hence, you may consider hanging glass ornaments on a window or in shadow boxes on the wall instead.

Or you can simply replace those glass ornaments with two-layered wood ornaments. Not only do the ornaments allow you to customize personally, but also they are made of environmentally-friendly fiber wood, nontoxic, and pretty safe for your pets.

Underneath the Christmas tree has to have some presents. Still, with the furry friends running around the house, you may want to wait until the very last minute to display those beautiful gift boxes.

Colorful shapes are pets' favorite toys, so if you don't want those presents to be torn up into pieces, you shouldn't put them out too early. And don't forget to get one fantastic gift for your pets as well.