Christmas and Cats - Any advice?

[wildbirds]

This will be my first Christmas with cats in the house. I have a fancy tree with tons of decorations. How or what do I need to do to keep the cats out of it? Any suggestions would be great. If I got some of that spray stuff that is suppose to keep cats off of furniture will it work if I spray it around the tree skirt? Does it work in general?

[pestkaj]

I would like to hear the answers to this question, as I never could keep my cat out of the tree. I gave up a few years ago. I think maybe if I would have kept her out in the first few years, but she always managed to destroy my tree! Now forget it, she sees a tree and thinks "thank you for giving me a big sparkly cat toy!!"

:nono:

[foolofatook]

Ive had cats all my life and I currently have 3.

Ive never, ever, in my entire life been able to keep a cat from where it wants to be.

I say tie your tree to the wall and hope for the best. :)

Last year DH insisted we didnt need to tie the tree anymore- "they dont bother it anymore" he said. :rolleyes:

Well when he awoke to me screaming for help at 3am since I fell asleep on the couch and they brought the tree down ON me, he tied it to the wall, right then and there at 3am.


You also have to watch because they will try to drink the water and they will eat tinsel, we just dont use it. Watch if you decorate with garland too. And watch for stray ornament hooks on the floor. I put fragile ornaments up high because they like to bat them around, and the dog will eat them.

They say Pointsetta plants are poisonous to cats so watch that too. One of mine ate some once, nothing happened except we freaked and she kept trying to go back for more :worry:, but I always read they are poisonous. I think misteltoe is too.


Good Luck. I hope your first kitty Christmas goes well.

[Sweeps8]

No....The spray doesn't work. I just don't put a tree up anymore. I have a ceramic one. I have fake flowers, and fake plants.
Women and Cats will do as they please. Men and dogs just need to get used to it.

[suelee000]

Bibsy and Lily played in the tree the first year. They haven't bothered it since. Now Lilyless, Bibs just gets behind and under the tree so that no one can see her. She doesn't bother the ornaments either.

[floridamom1990]

Okay, this scares me from ever getting another cat. I have never had these problems with our past pets. Could it be because they were inside/outside cats? Just wondering. My biggest problem now is wondering if the bird will land in the tree and never want to come out. :laugh:

[Mendacious Moose]

I have two cats and only one liked to climb in the tree. The other would only lay underneath and sleep. My little trouble maker kitty climbed in my 7 foot tree and knocked the tree down! The only funny thing out of it was my other kitty running in the room and smacked her face with his paw. :laugh: All my ornaments that my mom had given me were ruined. The ornaments were very expensive and not one survived. I cried for days! :frown4:

Now I have a 6 foot Charlie Brown (looks like a young black spruce) and the little rascal can't climb in it. Also, I only buy cheap ornaments just in case she would find a way to climb it. She is pissed to say the least.

Another idea is to get a 3 footer and put in on a small round table that leaves no room for kitty, only the tree. That worked for me one year.

Good luck!

[KISSaholic4life]

NO TINSEL/FAKE SILVER ICICLE THINGIES!

For the past 4 or 5 years, we've gone with a little 3ft fake tree because of the dog and cats. We had a real tree the year before we got the dog, and really had no problems with it. But when we got the dog, we decided to just get a fake little tree because the dog was less than a year old and didn't know what he was gonna do with it. The only problems we've had is with the cats and those damn tinsel/icicle thingies. Those tinsel thingies are no longer allowed in the house.

:cheer2:

[CrazyCatLady]

NO TINSEL/FAKE SILVER ICICLE THINGIES!

This is the most important advice given so far. Tinsel will kill your cats. They eat it and it gets tangled up in their digestive systems and can cause serious problems. Like strangulating the intestines. Tinsel, icicle strings, easter grass, cigarette pack opener strings... these things are all dangerous!!

I have no idea how we kept the cats out of the tree when I was growing up. But I tried a tree the first year I bought my house. And now I enjoy everyone else's trees.

[Janir]

I guess I've just been lucky, I always have a big, sparkley, all lit up tree & no probs with the kitties! They love the strands of light when I'm laying them out, will pounce on them, but never go for or try to climb the tree. I had inside/outside cats plus trees for many years, now I have inside-only boys & they too ignore the tree! Guess it just depends on the kitty...

[janbutty]

Every year, we just concentrate on damage control rather than prevention when it comes to our cat. She knows she's not allowed around the tree but that doesn't stop her getting into it whenever we're not around :rolleyes:
We don't use tinsel. We have to place presents strategically around the tree to prevent her from getting around the back and into the branches (she doesn't climb them, just likes to hide in the bottom ones). She loves anything shiny so there are no decorations at the bottom of the tree. Usually, we'll give her one shiny, unbreakable ornament for her to play with and that keeps her occupied (although hearing her bat it around the tile floor at 3am can get tiresome!).
Each cat is different though. It's a learning experience I'm afraid. Good luck!

[bluewolfcry]

I have to agree with tying the tree to the wall! We usually put our in a corner and tie it to the corner, but the kittens still play with it!

God Luck huney!

[foolofatook]

Okay, this scares me from ever getting another cat. I have never had these problems with our past pets. Could it be because they were inside/outside cats? Just wondering. My biggest problem now is wondering if the bird will land in the tree and never want to come out. :laugh:


Only one of mine was ever an outside cat , she was a stray before we took her in, but she is the least interested in the tree. I think it just depends on the cat. My mom told me when I was little our cats pulled down the tree on Christmas Eve in the middle of the night. She called a neighbor and begged him to come help her so I wouldnt think Santa broke the tree. :laugh:

I had birds before too and they never really went in the tree. I dont think they liked the needles. In fact at one time growing up we had 1 cat, 2 huge dogs, and 6 birds and we still had a huge, live tree. It can be done!

I still think the simplest thing is drill a small hole in the wall and put in a screw or an eye hook (if your really worried use an anchor in the wall) and then tie some rope from the tree trunk to the screw/eye hook. We put our tree in the corner and you cant see the rope.

I never let our dog alone with the tree, too much temptation. Last year she did walk by and snuck a disney ornament in her mouth but I got it out undamaged.

You have to watch the cords too. So they dont chew them. And sweep up stray needles too.

I have to have a big, real tree for it to feel like Christmas, you can still do it, you just have to be careful.

[Revawter]

LOLOL... I had this problem last year with my two year old son. My DR. suggested to just put lights on the tree. Try that! You could put a baby gate around it but the cat will just jump it. Your cat may not even try and climb it.. all my cats just slept under it. Keep fragile ornaments off the tree or towards the top.

Could you somehow make a new special fake "catnip" tree so your cat will ignore the real tree? Like outta felt and catnip or something?

[SixCar6]

The only thing that works for me is to put my vacuum cleaner under the tree - my cats hate it and will not go anywhere near the tree. It looks strange but it works. :smile9:

[melonhed]

My cat doesn't bother our tree, he never has. He does like to sleep under it, all nestled in with the presents.

[venus_de_milo]

The only thing that worked for us was the cat getting so old that he/she didn't care anymore, LOL. I vote tie it up (the tree, not the cat, LOL), don't use the most fragile ornaments, and hope for the best.

[littlecat123]

In the past, I have bought a live tree with kinda sharp needles. The years we had soft needles or an artificial tree, our one particular cat was always in it.

When we have had the pointy needled tree, it remained cat-free.

Good luck and Happy Holidays.

[fromtheheart66]

Good luck with that. I finally gave up on having the glass ornaments. Cant keep them. The cats climb to the top of the tree and shake the dang ornaments out.lol Such a pain but I still love them.

[bean_cat]

I've never really had much of a problem with all my cats and the tree. I haven't ever had one try and climb one. The main problem I have had is the cats will bat the ornaments at the bottom of the tree or the area that is close enough to the table to reach. I have an easy solution to that though. I put all the soft non breakable ornaments in those spots. That way if they do bat at them and knock them down, nothing gets broken.

[pestkaj]

OMG the vacuum!! That is a great idea. I think eventually my cat would try to get in it anyway. I even tried putting scented oil and gum wrappers and tea bags she hates the scent of discreetly in the limbs. She just messed with the tree but looked annoyed while she was doing it. :laugh:

I think WE are the problem, not the cats. I mean come on- we put a TREE in the house, cover it with colorful glistening balls and blinking lights. Christmas trees must look like the coolest cat toy ever to some of our cats!!


There is one thing that did work for me- I put the tree in a closed room once, an offcie that had galss doors. We could all still enjoy the tree then, but we had to listen to my cat scream and howl through all of the holidays to get in that dang room....

[wildbirds]

Thanks for all your suggestions. Think I will go ahead and put it in the corner and tie it up this year just to be on the safe side. I'm still going to try some of that spray that is suppose to keep pets away from stuff like furniture and see what happens. I love the vacuum idea because my cats also hate it and hiss and run every time I pull it out of the closet.