Keeping pets and Christmas trees safe

Humans are not the only ones in the house excited to see a Christmas tree brought in this time of the year. Our pets are just as interested.

This especially applies to puppies that are still experimenting with their environment and cats who very rarely get to see, smell and experience live trees as the cats of my youth did.

Our pets are not going to accept our word that the tree is off limits. They need to experience its taste, smell and texture for a few days - then they will get bored with the whole situation.

First, you must secure the tree so the pets cannot pull it down. (Falling trees are fun to watch only in the movies.)

I put our tree in the corner of the room and anchor it to each wall behind it with piano wire and a molly screwed into the Sheetrock as well as another wire support that runs from the top of the tree to the ceiling.

Hold off from decorating it just yet.

Once the tree is totally secure, I let the pets go ahead and explore it. The cats will climb it, and the dogs will mouth the branches and sniff it. In a day or two, the animals conclude that the pine needles are sharp and prickly and really do not taste good.

When all the pets are good and bored with the tree, we start to decorate it.

Stay away from tinsel, of course. If a cat swallows a bit of it, you will end up spending Christmas in the emergency vet clinic. We use ornaments that are nonbreakable, and we stay away from garlands that one of our pets may start to playfully pull on and not give up until it is all off.

The only thing I have never been able to figure out is how to keep my pets from drinking the water in the tree stand. They always have fresh water available, so I have no idea why the dirty water in the tree stand is so appealing.

Because of this, I do not use any tree preservatives in our tree stand, and we just top it off with plain water every day.