Cats and Christmas trees

I was wondering how many cat owners out there put up trees every year, and how do you keep the cat from playing with the decorations? Climbing on the tree? I haven't put one up since I got Grayse, because I just know she'd want to be the star at the top of tree. I would love to put one up this year, but need advice on how to keep her away from all the pretty ornaments. Any ideas would be of great appreciation.

My cats ignore the tree each year - I put out balls & toys & a bowl of catnip to eat & enjoy. The one would rather bat around her favorite foil balls instead of a prickly tree! The other just grazes on the catnip, leaving my plants alone. They don't even bother with the tinsel! One cat did like to pee behind the tree, though... but that was another issue!

good luck i have a new one this year and will have to play it by ear with him. my others usually dont bother it as i put lots of toys around the bottom on the floor for them and use alot of no no spray( training spray) from walmart.

i also put soft no breakable ornaments at the bottom so if they do play then it wont hurt them. when i leave they get locked in the room till i get home.

other then this is a yell at the cat till it learns. lol

I put the tree up every year, and the ornaments are safe as long as we are home. But if we leave the house, the tree is fair game. I come home from work every night and put the lower ornaments back on the tree, (at least the ones I can find). I quit using tinsel a long time ago after my SIL had to take one of her cats to the vet when he ate tinsel. I also use the no-no spray, and it works pretty good. Once there's lots of presents under the tree, they work on taking the bows off of them and leave the tree alone. I look at it as just part of the Christmas cheer. LOL I went through it with 5 human kids also, so I'm sort of used to it.

I'm like Joan --- just a part of the "season". A squirt of water from a spray bottle set on stream would probably be a good cheap training tool.

I have more challenges with my 2 yr old than my cat these days.

I started using trip wire to secure mine to the wall after coming home one day to find the whole tree laying in the middle of the room.
Them playing with the lower ornaments doesnt bother me too much. Like Joan, its part of Christmas around here. I love to see them laying under the tree, in the glow of the lights mesmerized by all the pretties.

I took a lesson from my mom and dad. I securely fasten the tree to the wall using eye screws and fishing line. As for decorations from the waist down is the plastic and no breakable ones my mom had when we were little kids, the top is reserved for the pretty (aka breakable ones) and we crimp the wire hangers so they can't slip off. So far this has stood up to a 90lb dog and 3 cats.

No suggestions here, but thanks for reminding me about this! I have an older female that's part Siamese and she's too jittery to bother with anything. My male was born on 1-1 last year so this will be our first year with a tree for him. AAAHHH!! He's on his 5th life already. I've got a feeling I might have to secure the tree to the wall also. Before we got him, we had a relative of his and she climbed the tree daily. She doesn't live here any more.

Wow! Thanks for all the replies. You know, y'all are right. It should just be part of the "season", and just go with the flo, as I do with everything else in our lives. I think securing the tree to the wall is an excellent, and safe, thing to do because it would be hard to see it laying in the middle of my LR, but I would worry that she would get hurt while it was falling, getting trapped under it or something. Those needles can be pretty brutal. Putting less expensive bobbles at the bottom is an excellent idea. And who knows, maybe she won't like it at all, and leave it alone completely.....I can dream, can't I....LOL.
I, also, like the idea of bowls of her toys and whatnot to keep her occupied so she doesn't get board and decide to go after the tree. I really wasn't too concerned about the ornaments, although when they break there are little tiny splinters of glass everywhere, as I was about her going after a bobble, losing her balance, and there goes the tree. But, like y'all said, it's part of the season, and life is too short to not enjoy the things we love, and I do love Christmas time. Thank you so much, and konkreteblond, you might want to make sure your tree is securely fastened because I think it'll need to be because it soulds like your baby has a lot of energy and is pretty mischievious? They're so fun, though. I love having baby animals around. They're so funny, and to watch them under the tree could be very entertaining, to say the least. Everyone here is so helpful, and I love hearing everyone's stories about their animals. I'll keep everyone posted as to when I get the tree to see what happens.
Man....I'll have to buy some ornaments......the unbreakable kind :~)

Had MsJen's experience-strong fishing line works well ,too. Sure do miss that one ornament!

I've had 3 cats in the house for the last few years. None of them have ever bothered the tree except the youngest one. She used to love to bat at the bottom ornaments when she was a kitten. But after the first year that was it. Now she just likes to sleep under it.

This year there are 4 cats in the house. We aren't worried about them actually going after the tree so much as going after eachother and the tree being in the way so we used the fishing line to secure it.

I posted this in pets but ... here's Pixie last year in her favorite sleeping spot. This was before the ornaments even got put on, LOL.

This message was edited Nov 23, 2004 6:31 AM

Hi

I am rolling on the ground laughing and laughing. Good luck! Good luck!!!

I have three cats. Chuck is 12 and hasn't bothered the tree for years. Abby is two and completely destroyed my tree last year. I have a new kitty and have no idea.

And you have to understand, I love Christmas! I love having all my decorations out.

Now this year, my oldest son and his wife are going to Cancun the week before Christmas. And guess who is babysitting his 3 year old HUGE white German Shepard?

So, now you know why I am laughing. I have no idea how my tree will look by Christmas. But, I love my cats more.

Sorry, I have no ideas for you that work, but I have tried lots of ideas that haven't

Have a wonderful holiday season and takes lots of pictures. Then you will have wonderful memories of how your kitty was.

Leslie

Leslie,

We can hope that the cats dont decide to take refuge in the top of the tree to avoid the dog, eh? lol.

With a house full of cats, (various ages since they were all throw-aways), I finally broke down and bought one of those 1/2 trees that hang on the wall. Now we are all happy....(well, guess *I* am happier than they are..LOL)

Leslie.....please take pics "before" and "after" so we can all see what the critters did to the tree this year. I thought that was so funny, and I could just see all 4 cats trying to climb that tree to get away from the big doggie....LOL......LOL....please take pics. I think you are going to have a very interesting Christmas. I'm going shopping for ornaments today, and I have some ideas to help keep the kitty from destroying the tree, and everything on it. We'll see if it works or not. I'm going to try and not get anything that will break into a million pcs. if it hits the floor. I'm so excited to go shopping....and believe me, this is a miracle in itself because I am not a shopper at all....I can hardly wait to get into town to see what Hobby Lobby has to offer me. Their ornaments are suppose to be 1/2 price right now, so I'm going to check them out. Hope eveyone has a great day!!!

I don't know what others do but we wire the ornaments onto the tree and
anchor the tree to the wall.
We did that for the animals and the kids when they were toddlers.

I've tied it to the wall, put up screens around the bottom, used scat mats, done the 1/2 tree thing,,,,,,and they still manage to get to it. THIS year I have a different idea though....since we have a new kitten. I'm going to decorate it all like usual - then I'm going to take tulle (netting) and wrap the whole thing from trunk to top like a huge piece of candy with a huge bow on top.....that way - we get the tree and they can't get to the ornaments! Don't know how it will work - but I'm gonna try it. I've got all this green tulle left over from a wedding a long time ago and I figure - worth a shot.

I knew of one family in Louisiana that hung their tree upside down from the ceiling every year. That'd keep the little buggers out!

M.

Oh I love this thread.
I have to be honest...we have completely given up christmas trees at my house. I have 2 male cats and they will not stay away. I have had years that the whole tree was toppled ...breaking many of my grandmothers antique glass ormaments. Other years where they just bat the ornaments from the tree, not happy until they were in pieces. The final straw was when I actually caught one of the boys EATING the remains of a glass ornament. Which of course ended up with a trip to the vet and a healthy bill. (he was fine no noticeable damage to his iron belly) But I decided I love my boys more than the pretty christmas decorations and have given up on trees all together. We don't have any children so noone is missing out and then we never have the 'putting it all away day' to deal with anyway. Best wishes to all!

Well, I went shopping today for the decorations, or most of them, and this is what I got, and decided to do to make it safe for the putty-tat, and enjoyable for us: I went to the Dollar Tree and bought some smaller sized, red, Poinsettia's...they have a tiny bit of gold glitter on them...., some holly that is edged in the white, and I am going to cut each flower and holly sprig off, and wire it to the tree, add white lights and candy canes, and probably big a huge bow at the top. Hope this will look good. If she plays with the candy canes and breaks them, who cares, they can be replaced, or eaten if the wrapper isn't opened, and she can't hurt the flowers and holly, so in theory, it seems like it'll be a good thing. I'll take a pic when it's up and done. I'm pretty curious to see what her reaction will be when we bring it in and put it up. She might hate it because it's so "pokey". We shall see ;~)

grayse,

I, too, put the poinsettias on my tree!! I also have tons of red and silver berrry sprays that i put in there. I buy them at Michaels when they are on sale They give the tree a whole new look.
One year i did the tree in all red and white and silver. . White lights with the red bows, berrys, poinsettias, tons of icicles, candycanes, these silvery feathery, fanny looking thingies, (dont know really how to explain them, maybe like sprigs of leaves that have been painted silver?) silver grape clusters and a silver shiney cloth that i tucked in and around the whole thing. It was gorgeous.
I forgot that this is going to be our first Christmas with Roxie, our min. pin. That, i'm sure is going to be a sight to see....ummm, maybe ill forgo the tree this year, lol
Jen

Wow, Jen, I bet your tree was absolutely beautiful!!! I would have liked to have seen it. Did you take any pics of it? I'm excited to go and look for a tree, but it's kind of on the back burner for right now because we are in the middle of replacing some floors, puttying, and then we are taking the toilet and hot water tank out tonight so we can get the wet floor up so we can let it dry over the weekend, then start working in the bathroom next week. So, you see, I have some other things that, unfortunately, are taking priority over the tree, but it'll come next week sometime, so not too far away, and I can decorate until I'm sick of decorating......LOL.....have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and please put up a tree for your new mini-pin, which I think are totally cool dogs, so he/she can get into the Christmas spirit, too.....LOL

We, too, came home to a crashed tree, broken heirloom five generation ornaments that broke my heart. One of those came over on the Mayflower - NOT replaceable. After several years and several methods, I have settled on a HEAVY cast iron base, wired to the wall, plastic and/or non-breakables on the bottom third of the tree, and the few remaining precious ornaments are not put up. The tree is fairly covered with decorations so the cats, thankfully, don't do a great deal of climbing.

One year, I did my tree all in tiny white lights, and hundreds of those shiny lightweight apples and red ribbon bows. My cat loved the apples but even if she batted them off, they were indestructible.

Those red apples are pretty with white lights, I think, and some candy canes. Looks like I could have my tree for maybe Sunday....I'm hoping. I want to get and decorate it so badly, I can hardly stand it.
The livingroom is being worked-on right now, and once the vinyl is put down, and done settling for a day, I can get my tree.....yippee!!!!

Sunday came and passed, but if the weather will cooperate, we will definitely be getting it tonight, and I'm so excited! I took out what I have of Christmas decorations, and Grayse got in the middle of them, of course, and sure she'll be in the middle this evening, too. I just love it. It's so fun to watch her play in all the ribbon, and she tries to be sneaky and steal stuff I'm working on. I'll post a pic under the forum of Christmas trees when it's all done. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!

I just found this thread, and I'm enjoying it so much. I put my tree up sunday. I guess there's nothing on my tree that I'm really attached to. I have three cats, and I hung satin balls and plastic things on the bottom branches, and put the breakable things up higher. I usually wait until after Christmas to buy new decorations so I can get them at discounted prices. That way, I don't have anything that's irreplaceable if it gets broken. In fact, we got our tree for 75% off by waiting until after Christmas to buy it.

Grayse2, I'm sorry. I didn't see this thread before I started mine on the Pets forum. I hope you don't think I was trying to steal your idea. I'm glad I found this one though. There are so may cute, entertaining stories here.

Whew! I had to go back and re-read some posts: poinsettias and holly are toxic to dogs and cats, so I just wanted to remind everyone to be careful with those if you are using live plants to decorate where your pets will be.

I have a cat and two dogzillas and haven't put up a tree since I've had more than one animal (about ten years now). This year the Christmas spirit got the best of me and I found a conical topiary-like Rosemary plant that I'm treating like a tree. I tied some red ribbons on it, added a string of silver Mardi Gras beads (It's about 12" high in a 6" pot) and presto! I'm decorated! I put this thing on the fireplace mantel, which my cat cannot (or chooses not to for some reason) get to. If I did have a real tree, I'd probably try to put out a lot of catnip and keep him too stoned to care about a big tree in the middle of the living room!

The dogs are more concerned about catching the stockings as they fall to the floor, and chewing them to bits. It's easy to see why I don't usually decorate for the holidays... ;>)

Jdee.....oh, no, I didn't think that at all. Not a big deal.

Dogzilla....no live Poinsettia's or holly, all fake. Appreciate the care and concern, though.

We did put our tree up last night, but it's not quite finished yet, so I'll post a pic once it's all finished.
Have to add more lights, and some "pretties". So far, Grayse isn't messing with it too much. She did chew on a branch that my DH gave her when we first brought it in, and he did it to see what she would do, and now I know....LOL.....she gets a little interested in it when she starts to play, but has left in alone so far....whew! I did add some breakables, and I know I was taking a chance, but all is good so far. Will post later.

I'm so glad.
I've actually had cats in the past who never showed any interest in the tree at all...then there were also cats that have climbed and knocked the whole thing over. You just never know. Maybe your Grayse will continue to leave it alone. So far, all I've had to do is put a few satin balls back, and straighted the garland.
Can't wait to see your tree. I've always loved the Christmas season.

Here is our tree....FINALLY....but you really cannot see what it looks like or how pretty it is...at least we think it is.....LOL....I'll try and get a better pic of it tomorrow to see if it'll come out clearer, but you can at least get an idea. There's white lights, purple poinsettia's, red and gold bulbs, green holly with white edging, gold garland, and miscellaneous ornaments and whatnot. We're really enjoying it.
If you'll look at the bottom of the picture, you'll Grayse looking at something, and this something is our singing, playing, and moving bears that we won at one of my DH Christmas parties, and she is so intrigued by the movement of these little bears, and they play 12 different Christmas jingles. It's really a cute little thing.

I took another pic of our tree this morning, and I think you can see it better in this light, w/out the Christmas lights on. We're enjoying it.

Well, that's not a good pic either, so I give up....LOL....it's so much prettier in real life ;~)

I think it's beautiful. I find that the camera never completely captures my tree either, but it gives people an idea. I'm so glad you're enjoying it. I love mine, too.

Thank you, Jdee. I went back and looked at your tree, and I, too, think it's beautiful! I don't have too many other Christmas decorations up, really, because the tree, for me, does it all and gives me that feeling of Christmas I like. I like turning the lights off, sip some cocoa, and just watch them twinkle.
So relaxing and soothing, don't you think so?

Yes, I do. It's a great feeling. sometimes I watch my cats sleep, and it even makes it feel warmer in the house to me.

Have to tell y'all...

We put our tree up Tues. night. Last night, i noticed that the skirt was twisted up so i leaned down and tugged and tugged, man it was heavy. Finally got it straightened out, and about that time, 3 half asleep pets, Bynx, Spaz AND Roxie all peeked out from under the tree. I got that "lady, what are ya doing" look. It was too cute.
Now, i gotta tell you this, I have a king size bed and it is Not big enough for these 3 animals. Bynx is the alpa...and he hates the other 2. For all 3 to be under there, not fighting, is a miracle.
Jen

I'm laughing so hard at this thread!!! The last year we had a live tree was 1989...when all the cats were fascinated with the smell, the decorations, the lights, the skirt, and in spite of using the bitter apple "nono" spray, they would sit around it and, I swear, DARE each other to take a bite. And one would, and then make that icky face, and wait for the next nutjob to take a nibble. They didn't leave it alone for one waking minute. We had ornaments all over the house, and once they tried to drag a string of lights off the tree and managed to topple the tree, spilling water, and drag it a couple of feet from it's original location. Now we have a big old fake, all the ornaments are nondestructable, and the bows don't go on the gifts until the very last day!! We do still occasionally find a nondigestible tree remnant that one of them decided to taste and regurgitate, but they pretty much leave it alone now. Maybe because they are getting old and lazy...or maybe they don't like the shrieking and foot stomping and spritzing....?

LOL....I can just see your three cats, Meezersfive, grabbing onto that string of lights, yanking, and dragging that tree across the room!!! Oh my goodness that is so funny! Cats eat more than children do off of the floors and whatnot! Grayse tastes everything. She can't have rubberbands, which are her favorite toys, because she eats them, then I find them in the litterbox, and eating rubberbands is NOT good for the digestive tract!!! She has tried nibbling on the lights, but has, so far, left everything else alone, although her tail does knock some things off, but that's okay, it's hard to keep that tail down when you walk!!!

My cats are starting to do much better. There's only the occasional ornament pawing, but mostly the just like to lay under it. Now that there are gifts under it, they get to hide. That seems to be more fun to them than anything.
The same thing happened last year, after the new wore off.

We're going away for the weekend, starting Friday, and I haven't decided if I'm going to allow her to be home alone in that part of the house, with the tree, or not. I feel bad for having to shut her in the front of the house, which is plenty large enough for her, but I feel guilty for doing it. I'll decide at the last minute, probably. We can always have my DH uncle come over twice a day to check on things.
We have this fiber-optic tree that my neighbor gave to us, and I had to put it away because Grayse chews the filaments off of it, and I found quite a few of them in her litterbox this evening, so no more fiber-optics for the kitty-cat! Haven't found any parts of the tree or ornaments in there, so she must be doing pretty well on that count.....LOL...she. also, likes to hide under the tree, and I played hide-n-seek with her tonight, and she thought that was pretty fun. What a nut!