Pets might be adorable for most of the year, but they just don’t mix well with Christmas. If you’re a cat or a dog owner, you’ll know the mayhem that can go down when you try to bring even the smallest of holiday cheer into your home.
Despite the fact that dogs and cats are both capable of going outside without attempting to tear down a tree or cause similar chaos, when that Christmas tree gets bought inside, it’s a different story. And let’s be honest here, we don’t want to be cat-ist, but as most of these posts involve cats, it’s safe to say that it’s our feline friends who are the biggest chaos-causers when the holiday season comes around.
Whether you’re just looking for a laugh or you need inspiration for your own home, you’ll love these 35 funny ways people have chose to protect their Christmas decorations from their pets.
Want to stop a cat from climbing your tree? Just reverse gravity and stick the tree on your ceiling! How this was actually possible with a tree this size, we don’t know – but kudos to this person for making it work.
This family didn’t bother with any fancy anti-gravity techniques. They simply put their tree up in the highest point of their kitchen: their fridge. Let’s hope the cats can’t jump higher than they suspect they can – we know a few kitties that would be able to get up here!
When your baby is all grown up, there’s no need to toss out the stair gates. Not if you have a dog in the family, anyway. These baby gates make the perfect dog-proofing protection, and honestly, they actually look quite pretty with those giant bows.
Not many of us know what it’s like to have a fox in the house. But judging by this picture, we can guess that a single word can sum it up: mayhem. Foxes can’t jump very high, can they?
When you want to keep everything on your tree in place, this is the ideal solution. Just whip out your saran wrap and get to work. No, it won’t result in the most beautiful sight, but you know what? At least none of your decorations will break this year.
This person decided to ditch the tree altogether this year. And when tapestries look as realistic as this nowadays, we’re wondering why this isn’t a trend that hasn’t caught on. Wonder if the cat has attempted to climb it, thinking it’s the real thing?
We present to you: the tomato cage tree. Not only is this Christmas tree pet-friendly, it’s also organic, environmentally friendly, and all the rest! Just grin and bear it, because it doesn’t look great, but it’s exactly what your home needs.
This family’s dog keeps eating ornaments. It might sound like something made up, but if you own a dog, you’ll know that they really can be that weird. Their solution? Guard the tree with the dreaded vacuum cleaners.
Not all tree barricades have to look as ugly as a vacuum cleaner. Get yourself some weighted boxes and wrap them up to look like presents. Place them protectively around your tree and it’s problem solved! Just make sure they’re tall and heavy enough to do the job.
This woman got a tiny tree and put it on top of her TV, which means we know her story already: she has cats. This is confirmed by the “holiday table” below, which is apparently the only area in the house that the cats don’t mess with. It’s filled with cat statues, and the cats are convinced that it’s a shrine to them. Who said they weren’t clever?
11. Yep, they’re actually for sale
You don’t have to waste time customizing your own Christmas tree. Hello, Argos in the UK actually sells them (and for quite a good price, too!). They listened to our struggles and they answered – no matter how hilarious a tree like this might look.
This might just be the saddest looking Christmas tree out there. And the saddest looking cat, for that matter – probably because he knows his tree climbing fun has been taken away from him this year. Hopefully, there’s a secret tree elsewhere in this house that’s much more joyfully festive!
13. Climbable tree shelves
This person made the best solution to their cat-climbing Christmas tree problem: make a deliberately climbable tree. It’s essentially shelving that has space for stacking presents – and any cat that fancies a climb! No more horizontal tree in the morning.
An alternative to getting a climbable tree is getting one that’s totally unclimbable. Being made out of cardboard, it’s also pretty cheap and ugly, which means you won’t care if your car
does manage to pull it down. It might not be a looker, but like most of these tree alternatives, it certainly does the job.
Not got a gate you can put around your tree? This inventive couple decided to stick theirs in a crib instead. Let’s hope their baby has progressed to a mini bed and actually has somewhere to sleep this Christmas!
This person took two steps to prevent their tree from getting damaged this year. First, they bought a tiny one that was less likely to be climbed – and then they put it inside a lantern, just in case. This one’s actually pretty cool.
If you can’t beat ’em… just let them do whatever they want. This person cut out the middle man and simply decorated their cat play stand with tinsel and baubles. It might not be a traditionally-shaped tree, but at least they remembered the star on top.
Not everyone is quite as daring as the person we showed who had stuck a huge tree upside-down in their living room. This smaller tree is less likely to make a mess if gravity succeeds in sending it crashing down on the floor one night. Not even a jumping cat could reach this, either.
Bless this little guy, every time he gets too close to the tree, he has to wear antlers as a deterrent. He’s probably so busy trying to get them off that he hasn’t got a second to think about messing up the tree. He does look like a cute reindeer, though.
This family clearly hopes that if they raise their tree, their cat won’t notice it at all. Unfortunately, cats are pretty good at sniffing out these things – but at least it looks well bolted to the wall. The cat looks busy playing with a hair tye, too, which should keep him good for days.
Looking at just the top half of this photo, all you see is a beautiful, tastefully-decorated tree. Scroll down and the bottom is completely bare. This might not be enough to stop these kitties from trying to climb it – some cats can climb walls, you know.
The person who posted this is quite right – the tree is, quite literally,
up. This has got to be one of those that comes with decorations pre-attached, unless the person behind this idea had some extra-strong sticky tape to hand. It looks like the whole thing could come down in a second.
The ultimate lazy hack for people who just can’t be bothered to buy the Argos cat-friendly tree: only decorate the top. Yes, certain pets may still try to climb this, but we all know that the ornaments are what matter. At least four-legged things won’t knock anything off when they’re passing by this invention.
Just when you thought you’d seen all the upside-down trees already! This one has the unique quirk of glowing string lights. Thank goodness the ceiling wasn’t any higher, or the wire never would have reached.
It’s possible to fence your tree in and have it look relatively pretty, which you’ll know if you’ve ever visited a shopping mall around Christmas. There are guides on how you can make your own Christmas tree enclosure online. While it won’t keep out springy pets, it’ll at least solve half the problem.
26. Baby and dog-proof tree
When you have young children in the house, it’s essentially as bad as owning pets. Especially if your youngsters are the sort who like to climb everything, and couldn’t care less about health and safety. Just do what this person did, and make a baby monitor-type tree on the ceiling.
Got a dog that wees on anything green? This is the simple solution you’ve been looking for. Just pop your tree on a table that’s too high for your dog to see onto. It’s not like they really appreciate your festive efforts anyway.
Now this might be ugly, but it puts all the other caged trees to shame. This person clearly feels very strongly about protecting their beautiful tree – or they’ve just seen enough “accidents” to know that this level of security is essential. Judging by the dog’s “wasn’t me” expression, he knows exactly why this had to happen.
Here comes cardboard tree take 2. If you have crazy cats at home, and you happen to also have a kid or a partner who likes art, a cardboard Christmas tree is actually a pretty cool invention. Just make sure you stick it well to the wall, or you know what’ll happen…
Maybe this person thinks that their pets will only try and pull down the pine tree, but this cactus tree is a pretty mean alternative. Any animal that launches itself in the tree’s direction will end up seriously regretting it. Maybe this isn’t the kindest way to deter your furry friends!
Don’t let your eyes deceive you – this isn’t even a real tree. It’s just lights strung up on the wall in the very convincing shape of a tree. But since there’s nothing really for this cat and dog to pull down, it might just be the safe, mess-free solution they were looking for.
If you want to go one step further when it comes to sticking up your middle finger to your pets, don’t even deceive them with a tree on a wall. Just buy a painting and decorate it with lights. You can keep it up for the whole year and just add the decorations come Christmas.
Sticking with the theme of lazy wall trees, this person has literally created the outline of a tree out of fake pine branches. Problem is, the kitty bed is directly in front of the tree, which is just asking for trouble. They better not expect all those baubles to still be there by December 25th.
Cats and vacuums just don’t get on. We don’t blame them really – something that looks and sounds like that isn’t our favorite thing either (although that’s partly because we’re the ones who have to use them). This person’s ingenious idea was to top their vacuum with a mini tree to keep the cats well away.
And finally, when you don’t want to buy a whole new tree because you have pets, here’s the next best thing. Yup, that really is a tree on a pole. Looks pretty cat-proof to us, but just imagine the chaos if it did get pulled down…
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
Pets might be adorable for most of the year, but they just don’t mix well with Christmas. If you’re a cat or a dog owner, you’ll know the mayhem that can go down when you try to bring even the smallest of holiday cheer into your home.
Despite the fact that dogs and cats are both capable of going outside without attempting to tear down a tree or cause similar chaos, when that Christmas tree gets bought inside, it’s a different story. And let’s be honest here, we don’t want to be cat-ist, but as most of these posts involve cats, it’s safe to say that it’s our feline friends who are the biggest chaos-causers when the holiday season comes around.
Whether you’re just looking for a laugh or you need inspiration for your own home, you’ll love these 35 funny ways people have chose to protect their Christmas decorations from their pets.
