Cats and Christmas tree stories

otto

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Yesterday I was telling someone about Jennie and her first Christmas here. I have a 2 foot table top tree for the cats. They love it when I get it out.

In the first place, Tolly says it is HIS tree. When I get the box out he goes crazy pacing and waiting for me to get the tree out of the box. When I do, the very first thing I must do is let him have it. He wraps his front legs around it, flops to the floor, and gives it a few affectionate bunny kicks.

Then he jumps up to the table where it belongs just in case I've forgotten, and waits for me to put it up, supervising every step.
 
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otto

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I forgot Jennie's story! Jennie's first Christmas here, she didn't seem to understand the rules of the Tree. They can play with it as much as they like, it's theirs. When ornaments get knocked off, I simply pick them up and put them back on.

But Jennie wanted to chew on the branches. I did not want her doing this of course, and every time I caught her at it I would say no Jennie and push her gently off the table. I tried to show her the difference between what is allowed and what isn't by encouraging her to PLAY with the Tree rather than chew it.

In the mean time, much to the other cats' dismay I had to cover their Tree with a blanket when I wasn't home, because I didn't want her going to town on the Tree.

Then the day came.....I was sitting here at my desk, Tolly was on the perch next to the tree and Jennie jumped up. She kind of flinched when I looked at her (she was still doing that then anyway, after her former abusive home) but didn't jump down. I reached over and batted a couple ornaments with my finger to show her what she was allowed to do.

I didn't realize that Mazy cat was watching closely too. Hehe. Jennie, once she assured herself I was going to let her stay there, instead of playing, went to nomming on the tree. However, before I could react, MAZY jumped up, with a loud prrrt! and swatted Jennie down to the floor!

It was quite clear to me that Mazy cat had watched me stop Jennie from chewing on the tree and decided to take matters into her own paws. This happened a couple more times over the next few days, and then I realized Jennie was no longer chewing on the tree.

So after that I could leave it uncovered.
 

bridget

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What a smart cat Mazy is! What kind of ornaments are on the cats' tree?
 
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otto

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No glass ornaments. Many home made, wooden or plastic or fabric, even some made out of tin cookie cutters. Paper ones too. Tucked into the branches is a pad of combed out fur from every cat who has had the pleasure of enjoying this tree. Two are gone now, but their fur is still in the tree.


I do use the small lights on it, kept unplugged when I am not home of course, but they've never bothered the lights, or the cords.

I was hoping other people would share stories of their cats and the tree, too.
 
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otto

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here is a little video I caught of Tolly last year, removing the angel from the top, for his own purposes. He does it many times each day, as long as the tree is up.

I was new to making videos then, so it's not very good.

 

bridget

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Very cute tree and kitty. Looks like a successful video!
 

photogbuff1970

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I have a picture of Onigiri...IN the Christmas tree, from 1984. He was just adorable peering through between the branches after he knocked our 4' Christmas Tree over on its side. Thank God, we didn't have any breakable ornaments.
I'll have to scan it at some point and post it up. ~will do that when our power supply to the main photo-editing computer is fixed. ~sigh~ My photography business is at a stand-still with that computer down.
 

darkmavis

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That's so cute that the cats get their own tree!

Cats at my mom's house never bothered with the tree except to occasionally play with low hanging (nonbreakable) ornaments.

I have no idea how Genever will react when we put the tree up in the next week or so. I kind of have a feeling we might not have too many ornaments on it, or have them all on the top third of the tree. Or maybe she will leave it alone. But I'm not betting on that..


I'll be sure to post stories if and when they happen...
 

dr.marie

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When I was little my parents gave me one of those toys that was a paddle with a ball attached by an elastic. I was being a little mean to the cat and chasing her with the toy.

Well, somehow the elastic got caught around her leg and the paddle kept hitting her in the behind. She freaked out and ran up the Christmas tree and it fell over and I got in a lot of trouble!

I'm much kinder to cats now.
 

addiebee

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Originally Posted by Dr.Marie

When I was little my parents gave me one of those toys that was a paddle with a ball attached by an elastic. I was being a little mean to the cat and chasing her with the toy.

Well, somehow the elastic got caught around her leg and the paddle kept hitting her in the behind. She freaked out and ran up the Christmas tree and it fell over and I got in a lot of trouble!

I'm much kinder to cats now.
At least poor kitty didn't get hurt! It's ok.. .when I was little I used to chase my aunt's collie around the dining table and pull her tail. When I got reprimanded, I said, I wasn't PULLING the tail, I was just HOLDING the tail and Lassie (the dog) was running!!
 

roobear

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We always have a 6ft real tree. On Max's first christmas he broke so many baubles we have taken to putting up only plastic ones, which once he has got them off the tree he loves to chase around the floor. He was little confused cos he is an outdoor cat and as he was only a few months old he knew that trees grew outside but had obviously never seen a real tree growing inside the house. His second christmas, tree appeared again so he thought he would try to climb it, not a success and not a happy mummy. He has got a little more used to it now but still loves baubles and shiny things. We have homemade cat decorations of all previous and current cats that have a place of importance adorning the top most branches of the tree. Frank was rescued as an adult so we dontl kwno wat his firts chrotms was liek but he didn't seemed phased by it. At least he wasn't terrified like he used be of Dad, black bin bags and suitcases.
 

junebugbear07

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When Mancake was a kitten before we put up the ornaments, he climbed up the tree to the top, I took pictures on my phone but cant find them
 

3catsn1dog

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I had to get on here tonight looking for christmas tree stories because we put our christmas tree up tonight. Hercules and Fatman have all had the christmas deal before and are used to the tree but Franklin and GiGi haven't so tonight it has been GiGi the jungle cat hiding under the bottom of the tree growling trilling chirping basically acting like she's a tiger kitty. Lol its been so funny even hercules has gotten into the mood and been playing in the branches with her. We don't use actual ornaments or lights on the tree just the glittery strands of garland to make it shiney. But I'm hoping I can get a good video at some point of GiGi the jungle cat and post it for everyone. Happy holidays everyone!
 

jaanda

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On the first day of Christmas, my kitten showed to me:
She can tear down the Christmas tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my kitten showed to me:
Two broken glass balls and
that she can tear down the Christmas tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my kitten showed to me:
Three strands of tinsel,
two broken glass balls and
that she can tear down the Christmas tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my kitten showed to me:
Four Hallmark ornaments,
three strands of tinsel,
two broken glass balls and
that she can tear down the Christmas tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my kitten showed to me:
Five torn up bows,
four Hallmark ornaments,
three strands of tinsel,
two broken glass balls and
That I need to take down my Christmas tree....

Our older cat, Tabby, has NEVER bothered the Christmas tree, other than batting at a low hanging ornament. Our new kitten is another story. We are keeping the sad remains of our tree in one corner till Christmas, broken tree limbs, torn bows, torn tinsel, and all. BTW: We have 1 glass ball left...
 

stephanietx

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I didn't have a tree story until last night.

DH and I were getting ready for bed. I turned over to turn off the lamp on my bedside table and I said to him, "You left a light on down the hall." He swore he didn't do it and had turned off all the lights (as he normally does). I go down the hallway to the front room and find 2 cats innocently sitting under the tree with the lights on! We have a pre-lit tree and it has a button on the cord that you tap with your foot to turn the lights on and off. They had somehow managed to hit the button and turn the lights on!
 

catnurse22

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Well growing up we always had 7-8 foot real trees and we've always had at least 2 cats. Amazingly, there were never any disasters.

HOWEVER. I just got Josh and my's first tree together (aww). It's a tiny 3 1/2 ft Frasier fir that I have on top of a table in the living room. Immediately Luke tries to eat it. After getting the netting off I went to take a much needed nap. 20 minutes later *CRASH* the tree and the lamp are on the floor and all three kitties scatter. *glare* No decorations were on it yet, but I am now terrified for that poor tree. We shall see.... I really thought it wouldn't be a big deal because they never get up on the sideboard where it is anyway..... But then again it's a new funny smelling pokey thing. I'd be curious too!
 

darkmavis

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Well. I was all excited to be able to post some stories about Genever and the tree, since we FINALLY got it up Friday night and decorated it Saturday. But I don't really have any good ones!


She likes to lie under it (it's a fake one), and we had to move her food/water just around the corner to the kitchen, literally maybe 1 foot away, but she doesn't seem too keen on being on the hard floor to eat. So I put her wet food plate on the carpet so she can be under the tree and eat. I know, I'm spoiling her.

I did find I can't decorate the bottom 1.5 feet of the tree except for 2-3 ornaments that are not breakable and i don't care if she gets at them. Mostly she chews on the branches. Yum, plastic!! Sigh.. And occasionally gets up and scratches the 'trunk'. Saturday night we awoke to this weird banging/metal sound.. BF got up to investigate and he thinks she was chewing/biting the metal base!!
That cat's gonna lose her teeth!

So really that's all, chewing on the branches, and only getting at the ornaments if she's in a crazy insane kitty play mode. When we plug in the lights she likes to go lie under it. I got a few pics, I'll post them soon..
 

claydust

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We put all the durable decorations on the lower branches.

Kasey never saw a Christmas tree until last year (Kasey is the tortie in the "My Cats" picture at the header of my post).

Last Christmas she just thought it was a nice place to "den up" under, maybe instinctively taking cover under something.

This year, she was under the tree and my wife was fussing with something on the tree, making the whole tree move a bit.

Kasey saw an ornament move and the 10 year old "old lady" discovered her "inner kitten"
.

Her eyes got big, ears perked and she boxed it with both fron paws until it dropped. Not content with that, she was going to maul it on the floor when I removed it and got her something else to re-focus on.
 

Winchester

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We have five cats in the house. We also have three Christmas trees, all a good 7 feet or taller. Our kitchen tree is white with blue and white lights and blue balls. Our living room tree is our "traditional" tree and it's where we put our ornaments from 38 years of married life. Our tree in the bedroom is our Santa tree; it's decorated with nothing but Santas and reindeer and red lights.

The tree in the living room is wired fast to the baseboard of the wall. We use green wire and cover it with the tree skirt. You really can't tell it's even wired fast. We have to do that or the tree would come tumbling down. How do we know that, you ask? Well, when we had eight cats: two young cats, an old kitty, and five kittens, those cats worked together to bring our tree down to the floor. We had put the tree up, but didn't have it decorated yet (thank goodness). My husband came home from work, tried to open the front door, and quickly realized that the reason the door wouldn't open properly was because the tree was right on the other side, on the floor. Not only did they knock the tree to the floor, but somehow.....and I swear this is true.....they managed to get the tree down the steps to the front door! Eight cats, one tree, and the tree lost. Ever since then, that tree must be wired to the wall.

We're down to five cats now and they're all pretty much geriatric kitties....our youngest turned seven this year. But that doesn't mean that they can't create some Christmas tree havoc every year. Our cats love to sleep in the trees. We'll walk into the bedroom to find Amber fast asleep, nestled in the branch at the rear of the tree next to the wall. She loves it there. That poor branch is always tilted at an odd angle because of her weight. We've gotten to the point where we call it "Amber's branch" and just let it go.

The other day, a blue ball crashed to the kitchen floor and shattered. When my husband walked out to check, Whisper was sitting in the white tree like she owned it.....and well, yeah she does! She looked at my husband and said, "What?" He just shook his head and got the broom and dustpan out to clean the mess up.

Oh the cat stories I could tell!!
 

darkmavis

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Well i found out Genever wasn't chewing on the metal base of the tree. She had gotten one of the small 1-inch balls off the tree and I guess batted it around til it got stuck under one of the legs and that's what was making the banging noise. Yep, the bottom 1/3 of the tree is bare save for 3 ornaments, it seems everyday I need to adjust the lights and garland up a bit more...
 
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