A Hamilton mother is warning other families to be careful with their Christmas trees after a seemingly toxic tree killed their brand-new kitten.

Kim Coates usually prefers a fake tree, but this year she relented and let her foster children pick out a real one at the Home Depot on Stone Church Road.

It was a fir tree with the frosted white tips. The family kitten, Luna, was drawn to its hanging branches and ate some of the needles. Less than a day later, she began acting strange, falling over, and had to be rushed to the vet.

"And $800 later, the cat couldn't be saved," Coates said Wednesday.

Luna — whom the family had adopted a week earlier — had to be put down.

Coates called Home Depot in a panic. She says the store told her the trees are sprayed with "a hypoallergenic pet-friendly substance akin to house paint."

After speaking with Home Depot, Coates says the supplier provided her veterinarian with a list of ingredients in the spray, one of which is ethylene glycol.

Coates put the tree outside and Home Depot came to pick it up.

This is the same chemical found in antifreeze and is highly toxic to animals, which are drawn by its sweet taste.

The family's vet, Dr. Jenny Kungl, is cautious about jumping to conclusions. She says she's awaiting post-mortem results and without that, "we need more significant evidence to say exactly what happened here."

What she does know is "we have a very, very unfortunate case of a family who has lost their kitten at Christmas time."

Home Depot is "aggressively investigating" the incident, spokesperson Paul Berto said in an email Thursday.

He said that this is the only reported incident in Ontario and that it "applies to one of our specialty decor tree products that we had less than 300 units of."

Coates says her concern now is making sure this doesn't happen to any other family.

"I'm dealing with foster kids who are already emotionally damaged and now my kids are thinking, 'Oh my God, it's my fault for picking the tree.'"

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"What happens if a toddler gets a hold of these branches?"

Berto says the trees have been pulled off the floor, and that Home Depot is working with the supplier as part of its investigation.