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We haven't had a Christmas tree since 2004 when Rocky and Rumor were kittens. That year was stressful because little Miss Jazzy taught the kittens to climb the tree. I decided I didn't want to go through that anymore and since I put a tree up at my Dad's and spend Christmas Day there I didn't feel I was missing out.
This year I kind of want to put a tree up and decorate but with seven cats I think I may regret it.
So who's brave enough? Any tips from you guys with multi pets?
Not I!!
I haven't put a tree up since Boris was a kitten, or behaving like a kitten, and knocked over the tree 3xs in one week.
I'm still not sure she won't do the same thing. Plus she eats everything that is live, so no flowers or anything! :(
:eek: Ha Ha you think I am Crazy or What?? Not Me.. Heck with all of my babies the tree would not last 5 minutes.. :D
Ours went up yesterday, and tho the twins have never tried to climb it, one of them (Pepper) feels that the tree skirt is her own private blanket. She gets under the tree and digs and scratches at it until she has it all piled up in a heap, then she plunks herself down and enjoys a nice, peaceful sleep. The only way we can stop her from doing it is to put some presents on it so that she can't get it rumpled up - then she'll just find a tiny edge of it and claim that as hers and she seems to be contented with that.
trying to scare me?.. I already have mine up... so far the kitties have just gone around it and behind it.. not over it... LOL
besides mine is between two couches in a corner..... and I only have plastic ornaments... :p ... I´m a bit of a clumsy I´d break them all while taking them out of the box they came in if they were glass... LOL
:) Oh just wait till they climb right straight up into the tree branchs.. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Husky_mom
The dogs are the least of my worries....
I put up a tree and do you think I can keep HANNAH out of it? No WAY lol
I bet those twinkly lights and colorful toys are very tempting.. LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by sparks19
No me! My last tree was back in 1996 or 1997. Andy is a terror with trees so it is useless. He pulls on the light strings and knocks the ornaments off. Trevor, bless his little soul, would just go underneath and take a nap like a good boy. http://www.iconwild.com/smilies/ange...smiley-001.gifI did set up my small fiber optic tree the other day, and Andy had knocked it over in no time. :rolleyes: To be honest, the way Ripley lifts his leg on every bush or mailbox when we go for walks, I would be afraid he would do that to a tree! :o
I usually put up 2 trees, and last year was the only year I haven't put a tree up at all. Owen was less than a year old. This year I only put the white one up (I loaned my boyfriend the green tree to put up at his house so he would have a tree) , and so far so good. Noone has been exploring in the branches (Cricket used to scale up the inside of the tree) and I have never had one knocked over. I have had a few ornaments broken which were glued back with super glue, no worse for the wear.
We were a little wary of putting up a tree this year with a kitten and a puppy (especially a puppy with a tail!). But we put it up anyway. It was up for about a week without decorations. We added some decorations this past weekend. The bottom portion of the tree is a no ornament zone. Since the tree is right by the back door and we let the dogs in and out that door. Taggart and his darn tail. LOL
We've had to get Paizly out of the tree a couple of times. We only put a few ornaments on it because of the kids. And two of them broke the same night we decorated it. Any guesses on who broke them?
Taggart? nope
Paizly? nope
Bruce!!! He broke both of them!!! So the animals score is 0 and Bruce's is 2.
Paizly knocked one off but it didn't break. Lucky girl. LOL
It is a rather boring tree, but it's still pretty with the lights on. :) I plan on getting pix of the kids (or half of them at least) in front of it, eventually.
Oh, Taz loves the Christmas tree. He loves to hang out under it. And occasionally he'll chew on a branch or two (it's a fake tree). But I stop him if I see him doing that. If you look at his COTD page from December 22, 2006 he is in his favorite place around the holidays. :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by Husky_mom
LOL actually I figured she would be all about the lights... but it's the beaded garland she won't keep her hands off of. she likes it cause she can p ull it and swing it around. little bugger lol
Even my older cats can't leave the ornaments alone so I decided to buy a cone shaped tree w/the lights on the inside. This tree can be displayed outdoors, too. Ok, it isn't the fanciest but it's a tree w/lights at least. I'm planning on shopping for another one this week, already decorated and w/lights, if I can find the time but for now, this one works just fine.
We got in the habit of putting the family Christmas tree in a playpen when my parents had Gracie, the Great Dane. At her height, her tail could clear most of the ornaments off the tree in one happy moment - and we swore there was no connection between her brain and her tail. It was easier to put the tree in a playpen, that kept the ornaments safe from a certain tail, AND from the younger visiting grandchildren as well.
We stopped, however, putting candy canes on the tree during Gracie's 14-year reign - she LOVED :love::love::love::love::love: candy canes. That was the only time she would drool, is if one dared eat a candy cane in her presence. Silly girl!
That's hilarious! I would love to have seen that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen
I've always had a tree up, until a few years ago I had live ones. The first year I had Sassy she took every single ornament off while I was at work and I flung them back on when I got home. She also pulled lights right out of the socket!:eek: Since then the cats only lay under it.;) My only other problem was Layla laying under the tree and when she stood up, this happened...:rolleyes:
http://www.headporting.net/DSCF5606__Custom_.JPG
Yep, there it is. Only in my house the ornaments would get broken and I was afraid that little paws would get cut, especially while I was at work.Quote:
Originally Posted by chocolatepuppy
None of my ornaments are breakable.;) I might also add, my tree is up and I'm going to add the ornaments tonight. Last year Jake was 2- 2 1/2 months old at Christmas. I may have to edit this later.:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Medusa
We have always put a tree up although ours is fake haha. My pets have never bothered much with it, EXCEPT the maltie. Holy crap, she once tugged one ornament and the entire tree came down on top of her. Picture a 7 year old shaking presents under the tree and an annoying white fluffbutt knocking the tree down the opposite way! My mom still says I had something to do with it..:rolleyes: She NEVER touched ornaments again lol. Her new thing? Peeing on the tree skirt, how lovely. :D
Ours just recently went up :)
I'm not too worried about Ellie, she's usually pretty good with the tree. It just makes me excited for Christmas!!
Merry (early ;)) Christmas, Everyone! :D:D:D
I can't imagine not having a tree! Mine has been up since the 29th of November.. Tilly and Nutmeg both like to sniff at the bottom branches, and Nutmeg likes to chew them. I sprayed all the bottom branches with some stuff called "Bitter Yuck" and now Nutmeg only chews the tree when she is trying to get attention. I just use the water bottle and squirt her, and she runs away :p
Tilly just LOVES the ceramic Santa I put under the tree for decoration.. not sure why.. she's just a weirdo!! :)
So far, so good (but Sunny will be supervised constantly). Moon and Bean don't bother it; real or fake...
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...mas2008014.jpg
Andy and I have been putting up a fake tree since '06. We've never had a problem with the cats getting in it. They would knock off ornaments from the lower branches so now we just don't hang them there.
We seem to run a greater risk with the dogs knocking it over with their rough housing. Though Andy has secured the tree to our costumed mannequin and so far, it's never been toppled. :)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...h/IMG_8531.jpg
Here in IA we have a real tree, it's really lush too. My little brother has his own full of NASCAR and Cars ornaments. The cats just leave it alone.
At home in IL we have two trees, a live one and a fake one which was given to us as a gift by a family friend who works for a company that makes fake trees. When I was younger I was always worried Niño would pee on it but he never has even done more than just sniff the tree casually when it went up. Chester hid all last December so we don't know what he'll do with it this year.
We were bracing ourselves for a year of kitteny antics with this being Grace's first Christmas. Nope! Grace could care less. K'CEE, however, is the tree-scaler-extrodinaire. :rolleyes::D
The dogs don't bother it although Maggie Moo tried to crawl under (to retrieve a toy) and it almost toppled.
We were brave enough with a puppy! CAllie ended up eating the berries off the tree, so we removed them and the tree looks naked.
We had a tree up last year and I have 7 cats also. Granted we put up a small Charlie Brown tree (real) and very limited ornaments only hung near the trunk area, but we had one including lights. The hardest thing was keeping them from getting into the water basin. I had to use simple sugar water solution rather than any other additives which might harm the cats if they should drink it.
Here's a pix of Cami lounging under the tree.
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l1...1/IMG_4134.jpg
When Kesha was still around we always had knocked over ornaments and ripped tissue paper, now that she has passed away we haven't had any problems.
Until I started babysitting my brother's new dog, Pike. That dog LOVES chewing on the tree branches and eating the tree skirt. Little brat. :p
I tried putting up a very small fake one but Storm kept trying to eat it so that was the end of that. If I tried putting up a tree today I know that both of my girls would climb it in a minute and knock everything over.
Most years I DO NOT put up a tree. The first year with Hannah and Puff, I was at work and Rickie called me. I was scared something terrible happened, as he NEVER does that. He walked outside to get the mail, and heard a LOUD BANG. He got inside, and I dont know HOW this happened, but the brand new fake tree was in a pile on the floor. Unfixable:eek::confused::rolleyes: He called to tell me. When I got home, I couldnt believe it. It was so bad that I did not even bag it up, I just picked up the massive pile and threw it on the curb:mad:
2 years ago I put one up, this time I anchored it to the wall in 6 places, and the ceiling with thick clear fishing line. Worked like a charm, but all of the ornaments were getting broken.
Last year, NO TREE>
This year, since it will be such a sparse Christmas, I decided to put one up tonight. And, knock on wood, I *THINK* I might have just outsmarted the cats this year.
No icicles, Shatterproof ornaments, anchored EVERYWHERE. I also gave it sprays of "no bite bitter apple" and put no ornaments or anything near the bottom of the tree. No tree skirt as that is a peeing magnet AND Puff will eat it:rolleyes: We will see if it works. Hubby and I placed bets. He said it will be ruined by morning, I said by tomorrow night:p:D:rolleyes:
* FINGERS CROSSED FOR THE WELL BEING OF MY TREE *
We ALWAYS have a tree, a real one.
I sure have very well behaving cats, because none of them ever touches the tree nore the ornaments!! Lucky me, heh :):love::)
I have never had a problem with the cats touching the tree, the most they ever do is snooze under it. Last year though I bought a tree skirt for the first time. Once the presents were gone, well it was just too tempting!
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...eSkirtSam3.jpg
Karen's lovely story about the great dane made me remember one year when my father-in-law visited with his dog just after the New Year. The tree that year was particularly dried-up, and when Sherry (a labrador) backed in to it with her whole back end wagging, all the needles cascaded to the carpet! Just as well there was no food on there.
Oh I can't wait to hear who was right, but I am thinking it will be your hubby! :p:DQuote:
Originally Posted by kt_luvs_kitties
I did!!! It's artificial and has been up since 11/29. My gang does not bother the tree, although they do like to mess with the tree skirt all the time.
The year that my grandmother died, my mom's gang were extremely naughty. They knocked the tree over, managed to take it apart in pieces and dragged it down to the basement. My mom was heartbroken and swore that she would never put up another tree.....but we have managed to not have that happen again by having the tree tied down to the window handles.
Not this year, no no.
Usually, we have a 6 foot cut tree in the living room. Last year, I had 3 under a year old, and decided to use a 4 foot fake tree. That sure kept all of us busy, he hee.
Then in January, Tommy & Tuppence arrived here. Tommy is Mr. Mischief, he is in to EVERYTHING! So I will use the small fake tree again. He is going to think it's a new toy just for him. :D
I know Butter has a reputation for being bad, but one thing he has never done is pay any attention to the tree. Mimi (Rainbow Bridge Kitty :love: ) used to love to sleep underneath the tree. The only bad memory of a tree in recent history was Zippper (Rainbow Bridge Golden Retriever), who was in the living room while we were watching tv and decided the tree was tempting to pee on! We were horrified! :eek:
We are very careful having any dog in the living room these days, especially the boys!!!! ;)
I have a tree up! I always do, and we have just someminor issues. Tabby EVERY year decides that she should pee on the tree skirt! (I get a new one every year at the after Christmas sales!) Sasha likes to knaw on the lights! :rolleyes: She also bats at the ornaments and it is not uncommon to come home and find some ornaments laying in the middle of the living room.
This year, I am in a new place, and have 10 foot ceilings, which makes my little tree look awful! So I improvised and set the tree on a storage container. Maybe, just maybe, the girls will behave themselves this year! ;)
Funny stories!
I, too, have gone back and forth with the tree, depending on the age of the kittens in the house. BUT, with a 4 year old....trees aren't optional anymore. Last year it wasn't too horrible with Arizona, who was just a couple of months old. I had a few broken ornaments to address. This year, though, I think will be worse. She is a fat arse kitty now, and is so trouble-minded! Between her and Jonah, who can't keep his mitts off of the decorations already up (and asks every 12 hours, "are we getting a tree today"?) it should be fun.
What is Christmas without a horizonal tree incident, anyhow?
Pam... last year was the first year the Buddy did NOT pee on my FAKE Christmas tree!!! :o
I do have to make sure not to put ornaments at or below tail height. That makes my tree look a little funny but everyone understands! LOL! :D
LOL... just as anyone with kids has commented...
here´s my share...
my kid kept asking.. "what if an ornament falls off?"...and i told him... they can´t fall off...unless you are messing with them...
well what do you know... later he said "Mom!!... one just fell off!!.."
:p:rolleyes: