Cat climbing into Christmas Tree?

[lovetoscrap]

That tree last year was completely cat friendly. We didn't even get out our usual ornaments. I went to Walmart and bought everything new: a huge pack of all those balls that were all unbreakable, the ribbon instead of tinsel garland, and the light up bow instead of the porcelain angel. They were constantly in it, and we got the fun of redecorating the tree every morning! We would gather up all the ornaments they had knocked off or swatted off and put them back up.

I took the chance this year that they were calmer and so far so good. When the tree first came out they climbed a few times but were squirted away. I pushed my luck with the angel on top but all the rest of them are basically unbreakable. None of the delicate ornaments, with the least breakable on the bottom. They have been doing a little chewing and swatting but with squirts of water it is getting less and less.

I also put our breakable Nativity and a few other treasures on the Mantle and TV and so far so good. As long as we don't leave a chair or something close to them that facilitates easy jumping they aren't going up there.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Our cats always slept in the trees. We just made sure to get sturdy trees. Once they got older they would just sleep under it.

Growing up we had two rambunctious brothers and frequently you would wake up in the morning to a fallen tree.

Now we have older dogs and they pretty much ignore it.

 

[hereyago]

There was a thread similar to this not long ago and I think I wrote about my cat, this is his first year with us. While we were putting up tree, he got into ornaments that was on the floor and broke one, it was a small disney one. But other then that he would just go sit under the tree.

Well a week ago, he went under the tree after getting the dog to chase him(they get along beautifully, but that cat will taunt the dog). so cat goes under the tree, the dog is a German Shepard who has no idea how big he is. Tips over the treebut DD12 was right there and caught it. it's a 6 footer, but nothing was broken.

Well, it scared the dog to almost have a tree fall on him, he wants nothing more to do with the tree. The cat will just rest by the presents.

 

[jackemail]

lovetoscrap---thanks for posting the pic of your cat in the tree! Love it!

I couldn't keep one cat out of the tree years ago...but he was afraid of the vacuum, so---we had a lovely tree surrounded by vacuum parts.

This year, Charlie went up in the tree...until I put the monorail set around the base. He does not like it when the monorail is on and circling the tree and announcing "Please stay clear of the door." We do have to change batteries frequently!

 

[hereyago]

I couldn't keep one cat out of the tree years ago...but he was afraid of the vacuum, so---we had a lovely tree surrounded by vacuum parts.

This year, Charlie went up in the tree...until I put the monorail set around the base. He does not like it when the monorail is on and circling the tree and announcing "Please stay clear of the door." We do have to change batteries frequently!

Hilarious, but you have to do what you have to do.

 

[Belle Ella]

Out of all the cats my family has owned we've only ever had one who would climb the tree. I'll never forget the first time I looked over my shoulder at the tree to see her eyes glowing out at me from the middle of the tree. She never broke a single ornament, never disturbed a single branch. They muct be magic kitties, lol. I wish I had a photo of her doing it though.

 

[Ppufi]

lovetoscrap- that is friggin hilarious!

I've had cats my whole life and we never had any that wanted to climb the Christmas tree. We had a few that liked to knock around the lower hanging bulbs, but that's it.

BUT. . has anybody else's cat been weird lately? My 8 yr old has been jumping up on the counters lately. . .something that she has NEVER done before! And the other day when I came home. . I found her asleep in our pedestal sink!!! She's spade, but I'm starting to wonder if she's not in the midst of kitty menopause. I was thinking she was having hot flashes since she wanted to sleep in the sink.. . .do cats even go though that?

My (male) cat did this a few years ago, in our kitchen sink. He would sit in it and watch us cook or use the computer in the next room over. Funny, he started right after we had a turkey in our sink for Thanksgiving...

 

[pppiglet]

9 cats and none climb the tree! Guess we are lucky. One likes to chew the bottom branches though and a few sleep under it on the tree skirt. They've knocked a few ornaments off that they like to bat around.

We also have a cat that likes to sit in the sink in the kitchen. We had another that liked to climb in the shower after we were done and just sit in the water.

 

[dfrancis]

WOW i love cats too and have one with me

 

[hereyago]

Update: last night, we couldn't find the dang cat. Low and behold, some presents had been scooted out from the tree, to make room for kitty to be asleep under the tree.

 

[pixiewings71]

I love kitty/tree stories. This year we have a kitten, DD14 found him abandoned when he was about 4 weeks old, she brought him home and has been taking care of him since October 20th. Well he loves to climb and is always getting in our houseplants so I knew a Christmas tree would just drive him nuts and he would always be in it so we got a tiny little 3 foot tree and put it up where he can't climb it. He can climb the Ficus that sits next to it tho so until there were gifts under the tree he slept on the stand under the tree.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

Hey have you guys seen this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2h3_aH3vo

I find it to be amazingly accurate!

 

[beaucoup]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQd1I_-ZPzQ

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We have 3 cats.

Our 5 year old female doesn't bother the tree. BUT she has an extraordinary fondness for wires. 3 or 4 years ago we bought a really expensvie pre-lit tree and she chewed through - COMPLETELY severed - every wire that led from the tree to the wall outlet. I almost cried. It was a mess.

Our 3 year old female will poke at the lower branches, but nothing too horrible.

Our 1 year old male likes to GNAW the tree. And he chews on it like he means it. You can hear him smacking away. It's a plastic tree. Not sure why he finds it so tasty.

We have the tree in a rotating stand because I thought if it was moving it would be harder for them to bother it. Turns out they don't care if it is moving or standing still. But the light strands plug into the base, which makes them much more difficult to chew. The wire from the base to the wall is pretty thick, and we have it under the tree skirt so she hasn't been chewing that.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

BUT. . has anybody else's cat been weird lately? My 8 yr old has been jumping up on the counters lately. . .something that she has NEVER done before!

YES!! mine have been nuts. My kitten (whos very indepentant) has decided she MUST be everywere I am. The others are eating the blinds and growling at the curtains. The fish is acting odd too. Tis the season I guess!

 

[BroganMc]

Hey have you guys seen this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2h3_aH3vo

I find it to be amazingly accurate!

I love both videos (yours and the one below your post).

Seems our cats have gotten the message. I caught one sleeping in the tree the other day and just went up to her and stared. She jumped down real quick. Found her sister sleeping under the tree the next day (which is fine with me) and went up to her just to look at the tree. She woke up, looked at me all wary, waiting for me to scold her. I didn't so she relaxed and went back to sleep.

Since then they haven't been in the tree. They play near it in their usual tackle and chase game in the mornings (which drives my dad nuts because he's afraid they'll forget and collide with the tree), but there's no more climbing.

They have not shown any interest in the ornaments or light strings. We also have a pre-lit tree and an extra couple of strings.

I'm hoping they are over it. We leave them on their own for a week starting Tuesday. My neighbor will be cat-sitting but I hope they don't get up to too much mischief while we're away. The train room will be strictly off-limits though.

Both cats are over a year old now so I'm guessing they are maturing. I forgot what it was like to have kittens at Christmastime. Last kitten I had (we got these cats as 5 mos) climbed the drapes daily for fun and then got stuck. Another leapt into a Christmas lights box and snagged a field mouse in one bite.

 

[poohbear2]

Too Cute!! Now I want to get another kitten.

 

[Jackson999]

You Tube videos are great and really funny

 

[SookieStackhouse]

Mine never really tried to climb the tree too much, she would get up on packages and look in the tree... she also liked to swat at, and knock off low hanging ornaments.

However, my village looked like it had been hit by some kind of disaster. She batted around the people, ran off with the trees and knocked over all the little accessories. I learned to just use the houses and leave it at that.

 

[horseshowmom]

I'm actually getting a little worried. We're going away Christmas week. I have a cat sitter but I cringe thinking what the miscreants will get up to while alone.

Many years ago, I had an attack at Christmastime that resulted in my being hospitalized and my gallbladder being removed. Because of the condition of the gallbladder, they did the old fashioned surgery, and I was in the hospital for about a week.

We had a kitten at home. She was probably about 6 months old then. When I got home, she had completely destroyed our Christmas tree. It was tilted waayy over, and the decorations were everywhere. She was the only one (and I've had quite a few cats) who ever did anything to any of our trees. We've always had cats who liked to get under them but never to climb them (except for Doc, of course - BTW, DD, who was 3 at the time, named her Doc so she could say, "What's up, Doc?").