Christmas trees and cats

Reilly is a terror when it comes to the Christmas tree...so much so that we have to spray it with "Shoo away" every other day.

Reilly is beautiful!

There will be an article ressurected soon that I wrote about this subject. It will be out the 1st of December (usually) It is buried in the archives right now-

OM Gads Did you have to bring that up I have no idea what I will do I usually decorate the whole downstairs, BUT I have sence last year gained 4 more cats this could be an absloute disaster, 5 big cats and 3 girlies that are 6 month old I don't think I can stand all the get out of that's and don't do that's...I hope someone also knows of a plan or can come up with one

mine had never seen a christmas tre and where frightened of it,all i had to do was keep the dog away from it,he thought it was an indoor toilet

Originally Posted by boys mum

mine had never seen a christmas tre and where frightened of it,all i had to do was keep the dog away from it,he thought it was an indoor toilet

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I'm not even looking forward to getting a tree this year (we have to get fake cuz we live in an apt. building, they dont allow real) I told John that we probly shouldn't get one of those rotating trees, Harley would get up there and it would fling him right outta there!

Heck Yes, my cats always mess with the tree!!!!

I have seen one cat drag the tree across the living room because one of the decorations got caught in his collar. Every tree I have ever had ended up with no decorations on the bottom half because the cats thought those were put there to be attacked and rolled under the couch or broken. Most years the tree ends up knocked over several times. And if you want your gifts to be unwrapped and clawed and tooth marked, just put them under a tree with a few ribbons dangling around.

This year I don't intend to put up a tree. Why bother? It just turns into a big mess and possible danger to the cats.

Here you go, I went digging down in the archives-


Christmas Trees and Cats

All cats react differently to chirstmas trees and decorations. My cats pretty much ignore them. Although they do like to lay under the tree, like they're gifts or something. LOL Now my little Hallie <RIP> used to love the tree. She's play with it and try to take ornaments. She was so cute... I'm going to miss her this year.

Originally Posted by hissy

Here you go, I went digging down in the archives-


Christmas Trees and Cats

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How many Christmas Trees and boxes of ornaments did you knock over when you were digging around in the archives?

We put those air freshners on the lower branches...lemon or citrus, most cats don't like citrus smells. Can also spray bitter apple on the lower branches. Usually after a week they tend to get the idea. But definitely stay away from the tinsel and garland! I made a bunch of bows and tie them to the end of branches...also take silk poinsetta flowers and pluck them in between branches...very pretty and if they get pulled out - just pluck them back in!! If you are afraid of the tree falling - if possible, wire the tree to a ceiling hook. As a breeder of bengals, who love to climb, we actually have very little problems, we have learned to put the tree up slowly, that way they get bored with the tree before the ornaments go on. Lower branches are dedicated to cute little crocheted ornaments I made that the cats can paw at! Good luck!!

I think this year we're going to make some baked ornaments and get a few more wooden ones. Bows always look nice, and I like the idea of the fake pointsettas! What with 2 kittens in the house, it's going to be a busy Christmas.

Thanks for the link Hissy, and thanks to everyone else for sharing your ideas, and stories. I really appreciate it!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas!

Originally Posted by hissy

Here you go, I went digging down in the archives-


Christmas Trees and Cats

Click to expand...

Thank you for digging that up for us!!

OH NO!!!!

LOL, Paige and Molly mostly left alone the Christmas Tree, but we didn't have Gibby, and Mr. Mischief gets into EVERYTHING!!!
BWAH!! I'm hoping I can Con DH into getting a real tree this time, and I will make sre it's sturdy.. that way, if Gibby attacks the tree, I won't have to extract him from the table topper tree that he would otherwise be dragging all over the house.

Thank you Hissy for finding this for us!
We have a fake tree...and we decorate for Christmas around the first of Nov.
Some of the decorating will be different this year though...with 2 furry 1 year olds!

My cat, Meow, always climbed the tree, but she didn't ever knock anything off. And she was maybe 6 lbs fully grown, so she didn't ever tip the tree over, either. I think that she just climbed the tree to get away from young family members.

My brother's cat is a different story. Loki is too big to actually crawl up inside of the type of tree that we get, but he will go for ornaments and try to climb anyways. My dad put two hooks into the wall (the tree goes in a corner, so one hook on each wall), and he ties the tree in, so it can't fall. That's a good thing anyways, because real trees weight changes as they dry out, and they can slip out of their holders without feline help. And our trees are too big for just one hook from the ceiling. We don't put anything breakable on the bottom few feet of branches, and anything that we really care about we put on the bookshelves that he never got interested in climbing.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with Bella and Rowan. I don't have anywhere in the apartment to put a tree that they couldn't get to, and I know that they'd be trying to climb my larger one (I have two dorm-sized fakes). Maybe I have room on the top of my dresser, provided they're not big enough to jump up there by December.

I don't put anything breakable on my tree, again no tinsel or garland, and also, I don't put lights on my tree because my "darlings" like to chew electric cords (even ones camoflaged in tree limbs ). I do however put lights on smaller trees or in garland on my windows so I still get the lights, just not on the primary tree the cats are so interested in. I also don't use a real tree and I think the lemon or citrus bitters on the lower limbs would be an excellent idea as a deterrant. The only problem we've had with presents were ones that cats walked on and crushed the paper with no toy package beneath the wrapping paper, and the one tub of beef jerkey that was a gift had teeth marks in the plastic lid, LOL. Otherwise they've left the presents alone. Oops, no, they eat curly ribbon if they can bite part of it off. Again, I'll not use that either cause it really bothers me when stringy things come out in the litter box. (This last week was a green rubber band and some jewelry making wire. )

I'm so nervous about putting up our tree... I just know its going to be a huge problem.... but maybe he will surprise me and it wont be as bad as I think!!

Just remember to get as much enjoyment from those little furry munchkins as possible and remember to keep your sense of humor. If you get too aggrevated with picking up ornaments, etc., you can ditch your tree and go out to a public display or drive around looking at lights for some yule time cheer, minus the frustration.