Christmas tree and new cats!

[zumbergc]

Ok, we have new cats this year. A 3.5 year old, 1.5 year old, and 6 month old.

So, the 3.5 year old has most likely been around x-mas trees. The 1.5 and 6 month have only been on our house, they were feral rescues.

We put only the tree up tonight.

Any tips that work to keep the cats from climbing it? We figured we would wait a few days to see if it gets climbed. Although adding the ornaments will be a test since they may be viewed as toys!

How have people prevented their trees from falling over? Just want to some ideas to have in my back pocket, I'm not sure what to expect. THe littlest one is the most troublesome.

Thanks

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

The water bottle seems to be helping my sassy cat. A freind told me orange peels keep cats away. As far as ordments, I have given up and relized that the bottom row belongs to the cats, so i use big plastic balls that are cat safe. If keeping your tree upright becomes a problem we tied it to nails in the wall and that helped. We also tied it to the celing tiles one year. Just watch out with tinsel, some cats think its dinner (and it can wrap around there instestine and kill them).

 

[Micca]

We always left the tree bare for the cats to explore before we decorated it. Good luck.

 

[akhenaten]

We tie our tree up...and the squirt bottle helps

 

[OK!]

I also tether my tree to hooks anchored in wall studs every year as well, though my cat has never shown the slightest interest in climbing it. Unfortunately, he shows HUGE interest in eating the "needles" (it's artificial), which appears to be his favorite holiday activity, followed closely by puking said needles all over the carpet. Ho ho ho.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

also non breakable decorations are a good idea. I do a little tree with my favorite glass decorations on it. Cant wait to see what the cat does with the menorah (hes the cat that sticks his nose in ANY candle (and has burned his face about 8 times)

 

[Sparx]

good luck!

i have an xmas tree with more than 200 ornaments on it, and a 1 year old cat who was a rescue. it was my biggest worry that she would knock the tree over, but she's completely left it alone. she's sleeping next to it right now, not bothering it at all.

hopefully your kitty won't mess with yours, either!

 

[zumbergc]

thanks for the tips. I went ahead and put the resin disney ornaments on the tree, and the other one that won't break. I put the glass/porcelin ones in the cabinet. Hoping the tree stays upright overnight.

 

[pennymom]

We always have cats and have 2 now (up to six at one time ). Many years ago, one cat chased another into the tree and broke some of my favorite ornaments. Since then, we have two metal rings screwed into the wall on either side of the tree behind the curtains. They stay up all year and can't be seen behind the curtains, but I am sooo glad they are there! We wrap strong twine around the truck and tie securely to the rings on each side. Cats have not been an issue since, but as a previous poster said, the whole bottom row of ornaments is cat-safe (one even says, "Oh, No...Here Comes the Cat!") and we never use tinsel or anything they can swallow. For those that liked to chew on branches or ornaments, we spray the bottom of the entire tree with Bitter Apple spray to make them taste nasty.