Question for cat people...Mary Jo!

[Beauty]

Do your cats try to climb your Christmas Tree? We have put up 2 trees and I swear every second I'm getting a cat out of the tree. Its kind of funny because the tree starts moving and rustling but one day we are going to come in and the tree is going to be in the floor! I love my babies but geesh!

 

[kejoda]

Is ther anyway you can tied the tree to the wall? We had a cat that loved doing that the first few days. We would just leave the tree up without any ornaments.

 

[Beauty]

LOL! I have never thought to tie it down but thats an idea! Right now there are 3 of the 5 cats asleep under the tree...thankfully they aren't IN the tree right now. I don't know if its the lights, or the warmth, or heck even the tree skirt but something about that tree turns them on

 

[Meriweather]

Sometimes.....but they have learned (I hope).
Last year, one cat got tangled in the lights and pulled the tree over!!
Not fun!!

When one was a kitten we couldn't keep him out of it. DH finally anchored the tree to the wall with fishing line.

Mostly now they like to sit under it and sleep.......but we can't keep the train upright and going around
And of course they always knock it over when it is WAY in the back corner.

Cats are fun Keeps life exciting!

 

[janette]

Cats do love christmas trees When I had my kitty she didn't climb but loved to sit under the tree.

The only danger to the kitties is tinsel but other than that securing the tree will help. My kitty did knock at tree down once.

You have given me something to consider though. Wonder what our new puppy is going to think of the xmas tree? I have the feeling he'll think it's a toy just for him

 

[ByTheSea]

Where is your tree?

We used to keep the tree in a corner, we had a hook screwed into the ceiling, and one in each wall, and used fishing line to tie it secure.

Our tree climbing cat passed away over 4 years ago now, so we haven't needed to use the hooks, but we had them screwed in the wall in a place we normally have some pictures hanging. After Christmas we would unscrew the hooks and hang the pictures back up.

 

[Beauty]

The tree is in the corner of the room so we could secure it. Thats a good idea. I'm laughing at the visual of the train and a cat! My Ocicat will chase anything that moves...I would love to see her if we had a train!

 

[Meriweather]

Yep....so we only usually get to run the train until presents go under the tree and then we can't reach it anymore....so it stays in the back corner derailed until Christmas morning
But that's their Christmas fun

 

[ToriLammy]

Originally posted by Beauty
Do your cats try to climb your Christmas Tree? We have put up 2 trees and I swear every second I'm getting a cat out of the tree. Its kind of funny because the tree starts moving and rustling but one day we are going to come in and the tree is going to be in the floor! I love my babies but geesh!

I have one cat the used to flatten the branches (fake tree) near the top and make himself a perch to look down from. Someone (at the animal shelter where I worked) suggested putting Caynne (sp?) pepper on the tree to keep the cats from climbing, we do it every year now and it works like a charm. After you sprinkle it you really can't smell it but the cats sure can and they avoid the tree.

 

[catsrule]

No, but I just have a little Charlie Brown tree, too small for them to climb. I just move it to the basement, still decorated, when Christmas is over. Cali does love to sleep under it in the basement.

 

[dizneenut]

My kitty climbed my Christmas tree every chance she got last year. Drove me nuts. The tree looked awful by the time Christmas arrived. I'm gonna try that Cayenne pepper tip, if she starts doing it again this year.

 

[Chattyaholic]

My cat likes to sleep under the tree, but has never tried to climb it. Actually, I have a very well-behaved cat, as she doesn't try to climb curtains, sharpen her claws on the furniture, or jump up onto the kitchen counter or tables.

 

[Robinrs]

My OBEDIENT cats never have but I don't know about that new little hoodlum we just brought in.... He climbs EVERYTHING!! NOT looking forward to this!

My other cats spend most of the day just watching him run back and forth!

Cute pic, Catsrule!

 

[Rajah]

Blaze and Sage left the tree alone last year until we were taking it down. Then Blaze was into everything. It was very cute.

This year, I expect them to all be in the tree at some point or another. We'll see how long it takes them to break it (it's fake, but I don't think it'll support anyone's weight but Sienna's!)

I've *heard* that you can take fresh oranges and punch some cloves into them and hang those in various points on your tree and theoretically it'll keep most cats away (but not all) -- most cats really don't like the smell of either the cloves or the oranges, so they stay away. If we have a problem with the tree this year and the kitties, that's what we're going to try.

As Janette said, the biggest danger to kitties from trees is tinsel, so make sure you don't have any tinsel up. Second biggest is from the Christmas lights.

 

[sixcats]

I always tie the trees up in two places. It helps if you put less breakable ornaments at the bottom. They'll still swat them down, but there won't be broken glass to clean up afterwards.

 

[grinningghost]

Chester loves climbing up the tree. Last year we strung it up to the ceiling so he couldn't knock it over. He also likes to eat the tree, which I understand isn't good for them. We have to watch him. He also likes to sleep under the tree. Which is OK.

 

[MerryPoppins]

We once had a cat that didn't climb the tree, but she chewed all the light cords into pieces. The only way to replace them would have been to undecorate the tree to put new lights on. GRRRR! We had a dark tree that year.

The next year we painted the cords near the bottom of the tree with tabasco. It did the trick. She never chewed them again. I suggest keeping an eye on your kitties when they are first around the tree to see if they are interested in the cords.

 

[Rajah]

Another product you can use is called Bitter Apple -- it's designed specifically to keep animals (cats or dogs especially) from chewing on things they're not supposed to chew on. I've found it works very well everywhere I've used it. Just don't spray it on the lights while they're plugged in because the spray does have alcohol. Give it a few minutes to evaporate before plugging it in -- once the alcohol evaporates, it's no longer flamable as far as I know.

 

[MerryPoppins]

Just don't put your fingers near your mouth if you use Bitter Apple. It'll wake you up!

 

[2disneywego]

Bitter Apple doesn't work for all cats.
I doused my pointsettia with it and it was just a condiment for Sam & Molly.
I'm worried about the tree this year too. Anything dangling is unresistable for Molly. I think I need to get her into a 12 step program.