Cats verses Christmas tree

[Spencer Wright]

Oh the joys of Christmas with cats.

It's not just the tree, my kittens used to attack the Christmas village at night. Every night the population would decrease. And they would hide the lamposts and the people in the strangest places. I wish I would have set up a camera for the attack.

My tree is left pretty much unscathed, however my manger scene under the tree is pretty much destroyed every couple of days. All the wiseman now have obvious bite marks!!

Also, wrapped gifts get a pretty good work-up.

Its the holidays, cats will always win one way or another!!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Luckily our cat didn't fall in love with the tree. He will sit underneath it at times and it's common to find his toys either in the tree (as he throws his toys in the air) or under the tree skirt but he's never jumped in the tree or played in it.

Back when we had our 6 1/2 ft tree that had shatter resistent ornaments he batted an ornament down low a handful of times but that's just about it. We've since switched to more glass ornaments so it's good that he still not really interested in what's on the tree.

OP do you have ornaments down low that your cat plays with? Or is it the whole tree you find your cat plays with?

We never had garland, tinsel, bows etc on our tree just a pre-lit tree with ornaments so maybe that helped when he was younger?? IDK

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

My cat is not to be trusted with gravity ones lol so we bought him this:
View attachment 284522

He was already being fed on a schedule so this just made it easier as it's an automatic feeder. It works with a conveyor belt inside and a locking lid that the cat can't open.


*I also agree we need more pics

That’s cool! I’ll look into that, thanks

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My tree is left pretty much unscathed, however my manger scene under the tree is pretty much destroyed every couple of days. All the wiseman now have obvious bite marks!!

Also, wrapped gifts get a pretty good work-up.

Its the holidays, cats will always win one way or another!!

Our cat doesn't mess with the presents but he's too interested in what we're doing when we're wrapping the presents. We're constantly having to shoo him away or pic him up off of the wrapping paper we just cut, etc. He's more like the "pay attention to me not the other stuff" type behavior rather than the destroying behavior.

 

[22Tink]

My cat bats at the lower ornaments so we just have to make sure those ones aren’t breakable. She does insist on laying under the tree though. I’ve tried filling it with presents but she just pushes them out of the way or lays right on them. She has very long hair and sheds quite a bit so my tree skirt is always hairy and we have to check the gifts for cat hair before we give them away.

 

[Lynne G]

Ha, I had a dog that liked to climb the tree and try to sit in it. Yellow lab. We have to this day, a huge, thick base for the tree, the tree stand used to be bolted onto the base, and yes, an eye hook on the wall, with wire to the top of the tree. That dog also liked to eat ornaments, including glass ones, so for years, we only had ornaments on the very top part of the tree. Oh yes, the adventures of pets during the holidays.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Ha, I had a dog that liked to climb the tree and try to sit in it. Yellow lab. We have to this day, a huge, thick base for the tree, the tree stand used to be bolted onto the base, and yes, an eye hook on the wall, with wire to the top of the tree. That dog also liked to eat ornaments, including glass ones, so for years, we only had ornaments on the very top part of the tree. Oh yes, the adventures of pets during the holidays.

My dog is terrified of the Christmas tree. He gives it such a wide berth when he has to go past it lol.

 

[22Tink]

Ha, I had a dog that liked to climb the tree and try to sit in it. Yellow lab. We have to this day, a huge, thick base for the tree, the tree stand used to be bolted onto the base, and yes, an eye hook on the wall, with wire to the top of the tree. That dog also liked to eat ornaments, including glass ones, so for years, we only had ornaments on the very top part of the tree. Oh yes, the adventures of pets during the holidays.

While I’m sure frustrating for you, the image in my head of a yellow lab lounging in a Christmas tree is hilarious!

 

[Domo]

Ah, Christmas trees... or "indoor plumbing" in dog language

 

[AppleDumpling]

Guess I've been lucky, none of my cats have been tree climbers. We have a real tree and our current cat just likes to sit underneath and sniff it. Sometimes he'll paw at the ornaments, so we put only non-breakables on the lower branches. When he was younger, we discovered he was eating tinsel, and we no longer use it. He also used to chew and eat curling ribbon so that's gone now too. No more ribbons or bows on any of our presents.

 

[Hikergirl]

I have always had cats and only one of them ever jumped in the tree once. It fell over and that cat never went near the tree again.
The cat I have now likes to chew on the branches but doesn't bother any ornaments, she likes to lay under it.
This year I have 2 new kittens so I'm picturing Christmas to be like this

 

[scrapquitler]

We have two cats. They were worse with it when they were little, but just in case, when we have a real tree, we put it in a corner and wire it to eye hooks that we've screwed into the window frame and fireplace mantle.

OH, and I second no tinsel! It's bad if they swallow it.

This! And hey, it's also a good idea if you have kids.

 

[NotUrsula]

The ornament-hockey solution is simple: use hanger wires and squeeze them to the branch when you hang the ornament. Any breakable ornament should be at least 4 feet up, and preferably not there at all. If you have a climber, put a screw-eye in the wall about 4 feet up, and loop some fishing line around the tree trunk and tie it off to the eye. If you do your tree away from a wall, then you need a really sturdy and un-tippable base attached to it.

Most cats don't like citrus, so I store my tree skirt in a box with a couple of pungent citrus candles; the smell permeates the fabric and makes the cat not like the smell of the skirt. Spraying the lower branches of the tree with a citrus oil will also help.

I put unbreakable cat-tempting ornaments (usually shiny plastic icicles) on the outer edges of the lower branches so that they dangle, wired into place, of course. This lets the kitties play WITH the tree while distracting them from the temptation of playing IN the tree.

 

[22Tink]

Most cats don't like citrus, so I store my tree skirt in a box with a couple of pungent citrus candles; the smell permeates the fabric and makes the cat not like the smell of the skirt. Spraying the lower branches of the tree with a citrus oil will also help.

THis is a great tip! I'm going to give it a try this year to see if I can keep my cat off my tree skirt.

 

[Spencer Wright]

...I put unbreakable cat-tempting ornaments (usually shiny plastic icicles) on the outer edges of the lower branches so that they dangle, wired into place, of course. This lets the kitties play WITH the tree while distracting them from the temptation of playing IN the tree.

CVS has a brand of 'unbreakable' ornaments which are relatively cheap, look nice, and are pretty 'cat proof'.

 

[Callie]

Mine has never tried to climb. Every now and then her tail whacks off an ornament. But she is obsessed with sitting under it. Must be the heat from the lights or because she knows she is the best Christmas gift I ever got

 

[BrianL]

Okay, I am considering this thread a fail until we get more pics of cats in and under Christmas Trees. This must be documented for the good of society!

 

[RedAngie]

 

[kmb584]

Ha, I had a dog that liked to climb the tree and try to sit in it. Yellow lab. We have to this day, a huge, thick base for the tree, the tree stand used to be bolted onto the base, and yes, an eye hook on the wall, with wire to the top of the tree. That dog also liked to eat ornaments, including glass ones, so for years, we only had ornaments on the very top part of the tree. Oh yes, the adventures of pets during the holidays.

Oh goodness, same here! It's pretty hilarious watching my Rottie bat the Christmas tree. One swipe of the paw and down the ornaments come. The first year that I had her, she knocked the whole 7' tree down and then laid in the corner with an "it wasn't me" expression on her face. She also likes to get right in there, using the branches at a backscratcher or who knows what. My Christmas tree is now baby gated. I didn't even have to do that when my daughter was an infant/toddler!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Okay, I am considering this thread a fail until we get more pics of cats in and under Christmas Trees. This must be documented for the good of society!

Not necessarily a good pic as you can't see the tree but this was at our rental house Christmas 2013-our cat was 8 months old at the time. The tree was our old 6 1/2 ft tree:


I actually don't have any more pics of him under the tree. Guess I never thought to grab any.

But a bonus that I've shared before is his toy that he flung in the air last year that went missing for a few days I believe before I happened to see it was in the tree (which is our newer one):