MickeyMonstersMom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2002
- Messages
- 1,427
I figured I'd let others benefit from our harrowing experience last night; I've never heard of this happening before, but now I know better...
I put up our 6.5 ft. prelit Christmas tree over the weekend and spent the next few days trying to keep our 4 month old kitten out of it. Our adult cat climbed the branches last year and sat in the tree, but the little one was trying to bite the wiring and wrestle with the branches, so I even started using a spray bottle on him whenever he tried to get into the tree (btw, it was unplugged all this time!).
In the wee hours of last night I was awakened by a terrible yowling: the kitten had gotten his rear leg caught in the wiring on one of the branches and by the time I got to him, had somehow managed to wrap the wiring around his leg 3 times over. The clamps that are meant to hold the wires onto the branch had come off, allowing the wires to loosen just enough to wrap around him - but I couldn't get the wires any looser to free him. I ended up having to tip the tree over to get to him better, and my poor DD's forearm was clawed to ribbons as she tried to hold his front while I worked on his leg. Finally in desperation I used scissors to cut him free.
Luckily, Pigwidgeon seems to be fine - the ordeal left no marks and he limped for about ten minutes afterward but isn't showing any effects except occasional licking of his foot - but the tree is ruined. DD said she never wants to have a Christmas tree again, and I doubt I'll ever get another prelit one with wires that can trap limbs or digits with no effective way to get them loose. This could have happened while we were spending Thanksgiving at my mother's and we would not have been able to help him for hours! Scary.
I put up our 6.5 ft. prelit Christmas tree over the weekend and spent the next few days trying to keep our 4 month old kitten out of it. Our adult cat climbed the branches last year and sat in the tree, but the little one was trying to bite the wiring and wrestle with the branches, so I even started using a spray bottle on him whenever he tried to get into the tree (btw, it was unplugged all this time!).
In the wee hours of last night I was awakened by a terrible yowling: the kitten had gotten his rear leg caught in the wiring on one of the branches and by the time I got to him, had somehow managed to wrap the wiring around his leg 3 times over. The clamps that are meant to hold the wires onto the branch had come off, allowing the wires to loosen just enough to wrap around him - but I couldn't get the wires any looser to free him. I ended up having to tip the tree over to get to him better, and my poor DD's forearm was clawed to ribbons as she tried to hold his front while I worked on his leg. Finally in desperation I used scissors to cut him free.
Luckily, Pigwidgeon seems to be fine - the ordeal left no marks and he limped for about ten minutes afterward but isn't showing any effects except occasional licking of his foot - but the tree is ruined. DD said she never wants to have a Christmas tree again, and I doubt I'll ever get another prelit one with wires that can trap limbs or digits with no effective way to get them loose. This could have happened while we were spending Thanksgiving at my mother's and we would not have been able to help him for hours! Scary.
