Hey Liz . . . glad to hear from you! I was wondering if you were all right . . .

Anyway, concerning the "destruction" of your apartment . . . did you pay a "pet deposit" when you signed your lease? Usually the pet deposit is non-refundable & is supposed to be used to repair damages left by pets. Ours was like 100 bucks . . . which is the reason I could care less about my cats destroying anything And believe me, Josie has just about torn the carpet completely up around the door in her room! We even had to put a plastic mat down under the door so she wouldn't make it any worse!

As far as your crazy cats go, LOL . . . do you have an extra bedroom that you could keep them in at night? Josie & Brodie have taken over our 2nd and only other bedroom in our apartment. That's where their cat tree, toys, beds, litterbox, food & water are. Josie has even learned when to start scratching the door to be let out. 7 a.m. and not a second later!

The Christmas tree . . . I was having the same problem. I started spraying around the base of the tree with an orange/citrus scented room spray. (Cats HATE that smell!) Spray it when they're not around though, so they don't breathe it in directly. Works for me. They hardly go near it at all now . . . I haven't even sprayed it in a few days!