Christmas Tree Defender & Potted Plant Protector - 48" (Adjustable) Green

We have 2 cats that are a year old. They were obsessed with climbing the Christmas tree. We bought the Tree Defender and at first we placed it about a foot from the bottom of the tree and it became a "tray" for them to lay on and a launch pad to get higher up the tree. THEN we placed the Tree Defender about 2.5 feet up and WALA -it worked!They could not outsmart the defender.Dislikes - with our tree we can't hide the defender. It looks like a railroad track going around the lower third of the tree. We can't put ornaments below it because - cats. So the result is 1/3 of the tree is undecorated. Also, the cost is pretty high for flimsy, yet effective, plastic.Like - It solved the problem. (although not elegantly.)NOTE: this product would not have worked for us if we were not able to eliminate "launch sites" for the cats. We moved our tree to the center of a large room so the cats couldn't launch on to it from the piano or bookcases, etc. Otherwise, they would have jumped ABOVE the defender.I am impressed enough with the product to have spent 15 minutes of my life writing a review. Recommend.

As the world turns and so it goes, you can’t just throw money at ‘the’ problem. It seems like such a great idea, but if your feline is anything like mine, this simply poses another challenge. Mr. Mustache looks at me like, “challenge accepted feeble human.” He then gives me a feline kiss, walks away, and a while later I find him in the tree.This was my last resort: I’ve started small, and now gotten big (with this purchase). Squirt bottles, sprays (2 to be exact), scat mats (which, Mustachio just chews on and actually likes to step on 🤷), and now the cat defender. Nothing has worked. I’m now going to try actually using my brain to solve this.I really wanted this to work, but my cat is smarter than me and just now uses it to hop in the tree. It’s provided him a step. It’s made him more curious and I frequently catch him biting on it. I have thoroughly doused it with sprays but he has grown accustomed to them. I got some in my mouth and don’t want to go there. Ever. #neverForgetThis also wasn’t easy to install. Depending on your tree, it may look more skirt like, which gives a retro look of sorts to your tree :) I have an 8’ Balsam Hill and this contributed to some of the bending of branches but that’s because it dispersed weight. My cat is, uh, “big-boned” (“He ain’t heavy; he’s my brother…”).I really, really , really wanted this to work. Unfortunately, I am just not that smart so I will be thinking like a cat for at least the next day or so, as Moostache plans his revenge.

Since having this through the holidays I can now right an accurate review. I was having problems with our cat getting into our tree and/or pulling the lights out of the tree to chew on them. After installing this two different ways, one as directed by laying on the bottom row of branches, and one way of my own creation to mount it under the entire tree by using the branches itself to hold it in place. (Kinda like twisty ties, it worked better to keep the lights from being pulled out of the bottom branches). It works beautifully for about 2 weeks. After that amount of time our cat learned that he can simply use it was a stepping stool to get into our tree or just disregard it all together and take a run and go to get into the tree. Pretty disappointed that this did not work as well as I anticipated. On the plus side it did help for a while and did help with him chewing on the lights and pulling them out. Once it was in place and trimmed it wasn't very noticeable either.

Ok, this thing is truly AMAZING!!! We have a sweet, little kitten who is crazy. She will fearlessly and recklessly climb and jump on anything and everything. I was so afraid she was going to destroy our Christmas tree and our precious ornaments, so before we put the tree up I did some research. I googled "Best way to keep a cat off a Christmas tree." That search led me to the Christmas Tree Defender. I had never heard of such a product, but after reading about it, it seemed to make sense so I ordered one right away. I am an Amazon Prime member so I received this right away. (I love Amazon Prime!) As soon as it was delivered I began putting up our artificial tree. After putting just the bottom row of branches on, I laid the Christmas Tree Defender on top of them. This is a good time to tell you about our tree. It's a glorified Charlie Brown tree. There is a lot of space between the branches and it's fairly narrow. One day I will get a thick, lush, beautiful tree, but for now this is it. Anyway, after laying the Defender on it, I noticed that the outside edges came right past the edge of my puny branches. This was not a problem at all. I grabbed my kitchen shears and proceeded to cut off about four or five inches all the way around all four pieces. I cut it back that far so it wouldn't be as noticeable on my sparsely branched tree. I then easily snapped all the pieces together around the trunk. The whole installation was super simple. Once the whole tree was decorated you really didn't notice it. I anxiously awaited for our kitten to try to get in the tree. It was so exciting, because the very first time she tried, she realized that she couldn't climb up and she has left our tree alone! I could not believe it! The Christmas Tree Defender saved our Christmas! If you have a crazy cat you need to get one of these!!!I wanted to address some of the issues I have read in the reviews. Some people have written that their cat uses this as a perch, it is very noticeable, it sticks out, and that their cat uses it as a platform for climbing. As far as it sticking out, as I wrote above, it's easily cut with scissors. If you cut it back maybe six inches or so from the edge of the branches I can't imagine that it would be very noticeable, unless you don't have many ornaments. Also, if you cut it back that far it would be difficult to use as a perch or a platform for climbing. Our cat is really crazy. She figured out how to jump up on door knobs and open doors. She will also sit on top of a door knob. If the Christmas Tree Defender can keep her off of our tree, it has got to be a great product! The only negative thing I can say about it is that when you try to unsnap it to take it off the tree it is a little tricky. It doesn't just pop apart easily, it's very sturdy. I took my time and carefully tried to unsnap each section. With patience I was able to do it without damaging it in any way. I put it back in its original box and stored it with the other Christmas decorations. We have only used it one year, but so far, so good!

It’s pretty noticeable in my tree but so far my tiny feline terror has stayed out of it. Hopefully it’ll look nicer with actual decorations.