My friend's apartment burned down when his cat knocked over a candle. Make of that what you will.

I do, strictly because I understand my cat's personality. He's not interested in fire, he's not interested in getting on the table, he's not interested in the candle. That being said, I wouldn't leave him alone with a lit candle for an extended period, but that's more to do with not leaving something burning unattended than anything else.

Never leave them alone together and it should be OK. We had an adult who was just a little funny in the head. Big super fluffy orange tabby. We had a small candle in the middle of our coffee table burning. Somehow, this crazy head decided it would then be good, while we were watching a movie, to do his most acrobatic love stretches around our legs and the coffee table. As we tried to push him away from the table a little his tail was moving around like a little periscope, or feeler, or something... next thing we knew, as he finally did move away, there was a little perfect tiny flame on the very tippy tips of his tail hair as he ran off. Of course I jumped forward to put him out, which he thought was a chase game and took off. I was young and able to dive and tackle him to make sure he didn't burst into flames or something. Just a couple burnt hairs, gross smell, and lost trust with me for the next day or so because of the tackle. He was super "special" his whole life and did things none of our other cats have. But, it put me on guard for the possibilities that exist and I'm super cautious with flames and fur going forward.

I do, but in a hurricane jar and never alone with the cat.

We do it frequently. Our cat put her paw only once over the fire and understood immediately that it is a no-go. Nothing big, I guess she was more surprised than really feeling any pain. But afterward, she was just staring randomly at the light and she never tried again putting her paw on it.

We do not for 2 reasons:

1. Like others have already said, orange cat + flame = chaos
2. Artificial fragrances give me headaches. However essential oils can be toxic to cats so I don’t feel safe burning those kind of candles either. Maybe I’m being too cautious but I never really burned candles much before anyway.

Only on the kitchen counter where I can see them from the sofa (open kitchen design). The kitties know they aren't allowed up there and only on extremely rare occasions openly violate the rule (like, you know how sometimes they just forget that you're standing there and act like you're not?). The candles are also the type that come in a metal tin that can be closed when not in use, so they're wide and squat.

The cats should be out of their super rowdy kitty phase where they keep making mishief faster than you can look. Then it's fine as long as you make sure to not leave the cat alone with a lit candle for an extended period of time, just so you can immediately put the candle out in case an accident happens - fires are only fine and funny as long as they're not endangering anything. It's new, it might be playable, so ofc the average cat will come closer to take a look and possibly some boops if possible until they know what that candle is.

From personal experience you don't have to keep sitting right next to the candle (I still did for the first couple of times because mine came close) as long as you're in the same room so you can come running ASAP just as safety precaution for worst cases. Those candleholders you mentioned sound good, I have something similar here (some big decorative glass/plastic things where candles can be put inside, not true candle holders though). Definitely helps with the peace of mind though if your cat ends up finding candles boring they won't be necessary.

saw a vid of a cats fluffy tail catching fire from a candle years ago on the web. it went out again before the whole cat was on fire, but you know, maybe just get an LED candle.

My cat sometimes suddenly freaks out and jumps around like crazy, so no way.

Get a candle warmer instead.

It's mostly a terrible idea.

I have a large oil lamp about a third of the cat's weight and the flame is recessed in a tube so it won't light the cat's tail on fire and would take significant effort to knock over only for the oil to douse the flame. Still, I don't leave it unattended for more than it takes to get more snacks.

Yes. I mean I try to be in the same room as the candle anyways, but don't really worry about it too much when stepping away.

cat might be curious the first few times, stay nearby and dont leave her unattended. they'll learn real fast what fire is if they decide to mess with it lol, then you should be good

I used to love having candles lit. I love my cats more. They’re too chaotic to trust with an open flame.