~ *Christmas Tree Cats* ~

[christa]

Well, it's that time of year . . . I'm sure a lot of you already have a Christmas tree put up . . . mine will go up the day after Thanksgiving (hopefully).

Thought I'd start a thread to see what people do to keep their kitties OUT of the Christmas tree.

(Josie was a baby last Christmas. Even when she did try to climb it, she was too light to bring it down. Now she's a BIG girl & I'm afraid that she & Brodie will try to climb it.)

Stories & suggestions please?

[sirrahbed]

We attach our tree to the wall with fishing line and cuphooks:rolleyes: Last year we had only Emily and Eliot and *both* decided to become ornaments - Eliot was about five feet up:eek: ...have the pictures somewhere, too:D I think a bunch of us had ornament kitties.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

Well I have the same problem. Me and my husband were married July26, 2003. Our very frist christmas in our own house, my mother bought us a beautiful artificial tree and almost all of the decor to make it very special. At the time my husband was a Correctional Officer, and I worked at a vet.. He got off 2 days A week, And 5 days the next. I worked 7 days a week:rolleyes: But needless to say, his only job was to supervise the only 2 kitties at the time (Hannah and Puff).
WELL.. 2 days after we put up the tree, and fully decorated it, getting it sturdy and straight... I was at work and got a phone call. WHAT HAPPENED? WHO IS HURT? SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG!!! NO NO NO... Only my tree got murdered:eek: I was very shocked to hear about it. I knew the kitties played with it, but to murder it... I never would have thought:eek:
When I got home that night, I did not really think it was really broken, WRONG!! Not only was the tree in 3 different pieces(dont ask me how they managed that) but every decoration was broken, with those little hooks EVERYWHERE. I was so upset, but It was so close to christmas, my husbands granny brought us a already decorated fiber optic tree, we had to sit it on our dining room table... I think it was a foot, but really small. Now I just dont know what to do, we are staying with my parents while My husband drives a truck, and i am PETRIFIED that they are either 1 gonna tear it down, or 2 gonna get hurt on all the glass ornaments she has. Good Luck with your tree. :D

PS_ My aunt uses that no no kitty stuff/spray from petsmart, and she swears by it. I might have to try it this year;)

[slick]

Fortunately I don't have that problem at all. Max and Speckles are too old to have any interest in the tree other than sleeping among or ON the presents.:D

[Grace]

Reese in the tree -

This began the very first Christmas we had her. She was so tiny then, that she could nap for hours up amongst the branches.

Year 2 - same thing. That's when this photo was taken.

Year 3 - last year. Squirt bottle and increased weight on Reese made the difference. We were able to decorate for the first time since 2000. Hopefully this year we will be able to put on the lights.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/March16th/DSCN0063.jpg

[DogLover9501]

Tigger only lays UNDER the tree :D :D

Emma hasn't seen it yet, not sure what to expect :eek:

[dukedogsmom]

I'm wondering about Doogie, myself. I may have to get that no kitty spray. Didn't even know it existed. One year, when I was a kid, our Siamese Tom cat made our tree crash to the floor.

[catnapper]

Pouncer and Allen stayed out of the tree last year - Pouncer LOVEd sleeping UNDER it... but I am certain Harry will be up the tree in a flash, with Abby on his heels. Ours will go up this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have lots of pics to show everyone!

[doolittleky]

ok I just wrote this long reply to this post and attached a pic and apparently the pic wasn't in the right form or something and the post didn't post. How frustrating! i will have to reply with my reply later.
Doo=^..^=

[Palomino21]

LOL.. I just love hearing you guys kitty stories. When I was growing up, we had 10 cats, indoor cats. Every Christmas, we'd have problems with a few cats. Anyways, we've woken up to our tree on the ground, presents scratched open a little, and occasionally, a frisky spree will occur and one will run through the house and end up near the top of the tree. We finaly had to bold the tree down, and tie it to the ceiling with fishingline. That worked, though the tree sort of hung there. LOL... I miss having my cats. We didn't use the glass bulbs, not with that many cats. Always used plastic stuff, or home made stuff.

Annie

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Every year, we leave our tree undecorated for about 2 days. By the time we start hnaging stuff in, they are not intersted anymore! This has worked for several years in a row nox!!

[catmandu]

I gave up,as JJJ3,pretty well riuned the ornaments,and as I live alone,there is no real need,to put up,a tree!

[catlover4ever]

We have an artificial tree and I too anchor the tree. We tie it down to the floor and also we have cup hooks in the woodwork of the windows, this serves as an additional anchor for the tree. I don't like to use duct tape because it leaves a mess on the woodwork.

Also I don't use any tinsel on the tree.....too easy for the cats to eat and it causes a lot of blockage problems if they do eat it.

I do not use metal hooks for the ornaments instead they make plastic ones and these are much safer than the metal ones...in case the cats should end up taking the ornaments off the tree and eating the hooks. While the plastic is still not good I would rather use plastic than metal.

If you have any extra special ornaments....put them towards the top of the tree...you have a better chance of them not getting broken that way.

I also this year will not be putting any glass ornaments on the tree this year because I have two new kittens and they get into everything. Once they grow up and become less "hyper" then I will put my glass ornaments back up.

My mom's 8 cats managed one year to take her 8 foot artificial tree completely apart. She works second shift and was coming home one night and could not figure out why she could not get the basement door opened. Well when she finally pushed her way through she saw her tree in pieces. They had managed to take the lights and ornaments off the tree, knock it over, and dismembered every tree limb and dragged it to the basement. I received a call at midnight that evening with my mom totally in tears...you see it was the first Christmas since her mom had passed away and the cats decided that that was the year to destroy the tree. Needless to say her tree now gets anchored to the walls and floor as well.

[christa]

How are you all "anchoring" your trees to the floors & walls? Details please, LOL!

Our tree is artificial and all the ornaments are soft, home made but no glass. I think I will look into the plastic hangers . . . although I usually hang my ornaments with fabric or rope. Plastic hangers would be good for the few ornaments that I do hang with hooks.

I'm not as worried because we lock the cats up at night and when we're not here. They have their own room, so more than likely, they will be supervised when around the tree. That's how it was with Josie last year . . . she got sprayed a lot, but mostly just enjoyed sleeping under it. I'm just worried that Josie & Brodie will be rolling around like they do and accidently knock it over!

Thanks for the stories & advice! Glad to hear I'm not the only one worrying about this! ;)

[sirrahbed]

First - the evidence of the problem:
Christmas 2003 - tree is moving....
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid93/p6c1a939ea56e736e7533082b39069c16/fa40516d.jpg
yup...it's a kitty...Eliot to be exact
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid93/pb412bf121e51b1e91fca90dd35a68503/fa40516b.jpg
Emily tried it a few days later...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid93/p33f4ee6cc2aa24641dfae5697825c8c6/fa46aa8b.jpg

What we do to keep the whole tree from toppling over is to secure it to the wall. The tree is artificial and we put it up in a corner of the room. We have a cup hook in the two walls adjacent to the tree and attach fishing line around the base of the tree - near the top and about half way up, and secure it to the cuphooks. This way, the tree can fall in towards the wall, but then no harm is done. The tree cannot fall outwards into the room. All the ornaments are unbreakable and homemade - things the kids have made over the years. I also tie pieces of plaid ribbon on lots of places - this makes a pretty decoration and could actually safely decorate the whole tree!! Maybe use ribbon and lace?? We put the most special ornaments near the top. The ones at the bottom always get knocked off and played with but no big deal. We do use strings of lights, but have never noticed the kitties chewing - at least not *yet* but this will be our first year with such young kittens:rolleyes: No tinsel of course and no garland - though I like Kelly's idea about the pretty wired ribbon.

[NoahsMommy]

Debbie...what a great idea about just tying ribbon to the tree to decorate it. Hmm...I think I'm going to do that this year. :)

I've been thinking about getting a smaller tree this year and putting it up on a low table or something. Do you think that would make it harder to get to for the cats?? It would be easier to knock down, but not with it fishing wired...hmmm. Must think.

We had the babies last year, but I don't think they did much damage...although, I'm really good at blocking any sort of bad behavior out. Not my angels! ;)

[catlover4ever]

We anchor our tree the same way. When I anchor mine to the floor I do have the cup hooks that you would use to hang cups in the cupboard...well I have carpeting and I have drilled into the floor and when it comes time to put the tree up I find the area where the holes are drilled and then I screw the cup hooks in to the holes and when the tree comes down I remove the hooks until next year.

[sirrahbed]

You know Kelly - I am starting to like the lace and ribbon idea myself. I just used lengths and tie the bow right on so if a kitty pulls one off, no big deal and they have not bothered with them at all.
Oh yes - and the cuphooks need to go into a stud. When you take them out, a little dab of white toothpaste (Colgate is the only one I know that is still plain and white:)) covers the hole:)

[manda_moo87]

Almost every single year my RB kitty Perkins would constatly be trying to swat at the ornaments on the tree... he even broke a few! :p But he never really tried to climb the tree.

[christa]

I'm gonna put my tree in a corner, so the cup hooks are a good idea. I know what you mean now by cuphooks, LOL . . . wasn't sure before!

I might wait and see how they act around it . . . I'm hoping that Josie will be UN-interested & Brodie will be too small to do much damage.

I use wired ribbon on my tree . . . I'm going to do an "americana" themed Christmas tree again this year . . . so I use a lot of safe, homey looking decorations.

I can't believe Eliot sitting on the branch of your tree!!! LOL, that's so funny! I can't believe he didn't knock it over!