Kitten and Christmas tree question

[Samantha Puppy]

Being as this is my first Christmas with kittens around, I don't know what to be worried about and what to "ignore". Obviously, Sushi and Kirin are extremely interested in the tree and have whapped several ornaments down onto the floor. But in addition to that, Kirin has taken to drink the water. Is this safe?

Thanks to any and all who take the time to answer.

[Kater]

Drinking the water from the tree stand is not safe!

Some things to keep in mind...

Be sure to cover the tree stand as well as the water in the stand may absorb tree sap which can be hazardous to a cat's health. Also if the cat drinks from the stand it risks ingesting pine needles that might have fallen in, which can cause serious gastrointestinal problems. Don't use additives in the water as they may be toxic.

[Shady]

Ingested tinsel is a big danger.

I found out the hard way.

First cat, first Christmas, he ate tinsel. We spent part of Christmas Eve at the Emerg. Vet.

[Uniqueviking]

Kirsten has a section about this on her site - Click the "Merry Christmas?" banner : http://www.catmom.de/engl/index.html

[catmandu]

And pl;ease make sure,thatthe Tree,is achored properly,or one morning,you will hear TIMBER,and the Kittens,will make,like Lumberjacks.

[kuhio98]

Yes, ingesting tinsel could be dangerous and the water might not be ideal, but I (for one) wouldn't worry about it too much. Princess Kuhio drank water from the Christmas tree every chance she got for 17 years. She also drank from the ditch behind our house the soapy runnoff from the guy washing his car down the street and the toilet. The kittens probably won't drink much of the water. They are just curious.

[Samantha Puppy]

Thanks for the feedback. I figured while the water probably wasn't ideal for them to drink, if it was horribly toxic, there'd be a lot more dead cats around Christmastime. Even so, I asked my husband to do something this morning to keep Kirin out of the water so that'll be a non-issue soon.

The tree is well anchored - the stand we have is very secure. Coupled with the fact that Kirin is maybe 5 lbs. and Sushi's only about 4 lbs., I don't think they'll be able to bring down the tree. Maybe next year. For now, they're just having fun trying to bat down the lowest ornaments.

Here is the tree, complete with Kirin underneath.