Ferret Fan,
Although I can't be sure about the hazards of pine pitch, I can say that if
it were a *major* problem ours would all be dead.  They all love to drink the
water out of the tree pan.
 
Our biggest problem was their insistance of re-trimming or untrimming the
tree once it was up.  Mickey, more than once, was seen with his mouth all
aglow, trying to pull the strings of mini-lights off to his hiddy hole.  My
13 year-old son used to meet Topaz at eye level in the tree where she used to
like to climb and steal the ornamanets.  Martin, Bud and Garfunkel on the
other hand liked the garland, but never seemed to like it where we placed it.
 Mynee liked the crash of the glass balls as they smashed on the floor.
 Simon just liked to stand at the base  of the tree and supervise.
 
Good luck.
 
Dick B.
[Posted in FML issue 1025]