Any advice here? We have sister kittens who are currently 7 months old. I just know they will try to tear up the Christmas tree when we put it up and they are left out in that living room/kitchen/dining area when we sleep.
What has worked for you?
ETA: We have a lovely, expensive, pre-lit artificial tree.
We have just a little table top tree. Maybe we can bring out the normal sized oned when the kittens are older.
Posted 4 months ago by ClaudesMommy #
Ahhh, cats and Christmas trees. I don't have much of a solution other than keep the breakables away from swatting reach. For years we had to put the tree skirt at the base of the tree as soon as we put it up so Jiggs wouldn't drink the water. When Shaddo was a baby we found him wrapped around the top of the tree! Years later, when we came home from my Dad's funeral, the tree was on it's side! We didn't have much of a Christmas last year, what with the house being in turmoil. Had a little foot-high tree with a few bows on it that we dubbed "Leela's tree" but it didn't survive the chaos. This year will be Leela's first official Christmas. It should be interesting... (yikes!)
Posted 4 months ago by JoanfromNewJersey #
I have our tree on the porch (enclosed) where none of the cats have access... I cannot have candles out for the season, and other decorations are also potenially at risk... no surface is too high for my crew. I wish you luck! At the very least you need to weight the bottom of the tree so when they climb it they don't tip it over! No breakable ornaments at any level, no tinsel...
Posted 4 months ago by nawlins catmom #
This is one of my favorite websites of all time, and it seems appropriate here, so...
http://www.fluffytails.ca/christmas.asp
My cats have always been pretty good with the tree. Last year I caught Nibs in there when I first put the tree up but once all the decorations were on she didn't go back up there. I use glass ornaments, and I have a bunch of acrylic ones that I bought for the bottom 1/3 of the tree. I do know that the cat we had when I was little was a terror at Christmas time, so I guess it kind of depends on the cat. Good luck!
Our kitties love to prowl under the tree. There isn't really anything for them to grab onto to climb up the tree, thank goodness! We reserve metal, resin, and wooden ornaments for the bottom row, since both cats seem to take great delight in walking under it with raised tails and shaking the whole tree.
We have an artificial one, and have firmly attached (nailed or screwed) the base into a 2 x 2 foot piece of plywood for stability.
2 solutions here -
1) some people have an upside down tree hanging from the ceiling
2) my parents tied the tree to a piece of furniture or railing so it couldn't get knocked down
Posted 4 months ago by Cheri 12/22 #
MMGM, what a great website! Thanks for sharing.
Posted 4 months ago by nawlins catmom #
Yeah, I'm pretty sure we won't be putting any breakables on the tree this year :) I used up some tinsel that I don't know why I had in the first place in 2007. Hubby was concerned, but the boys were too old to play with it; Jiggs was just weeks away from going to the bridge and all Shaddo wanted was to sleep under the tree.
Shaddo went from climbing the tree each year (with Jiggs at the base of it trying to drink the water) to having his own spot under it. He would stand there and stare at the base of the tree where things had collected. As soon as I moved a box/bag, he would settle in and that would be his resting/sleeping spot for the next 3 weeks! He loved it there and I put his favorite ornament on a low branch right above him - it was a painted starfish that he sent spinning wildly a few years earlier. Wonderful memories of Christmas with the boys. Now it's the new era with our little girl Leela!
Posted 4 months ago by JoanfromNewJersey #
I can't offer you any advice...I haven't had a tree in years because none of mine would leave them alone, or they always wanted to climb them. Too much added worry whenever I had to leave the house & when I was home, I was up more than sitting having to chase 1 or several away from the sparkling pretty lights. :)
Hahahah...I too love this site NNGM! It's a perfect journal and forewarning of what can and likely will happen to a bright, shiny, bauble laden tree!!
Rhindon..please keep anything expensive and precious off your tree at least for this year. Seven month old kittens will truly devour the fun of such a tempting toy as their first Christmas tree. Oh...and take pics...they only go through the first Christmas once. =D
my tree this year is a white wire one with minature white lights already attached. comes in a box that is 5 inches by 2 feet by 2 feet. it uncurls itself and is 6 foot tall. wish me luck...
Posted 4 months ago by Cheri 12/22 #
Oh man, I haven't even thought about Ally and the Christmas tree. She will have a blast tearing it apart. Better buy some plastic balls instead of glass.
NNGM your webpage was awesome! I've sent all my family the link!
Posted 4 months ago by linksboomerang #
We get a real tree every year. Up until 3 years ago, the tree would fall every single year. We'd come home to find the tree on the floor and 2 "innocent looking" kitties. I was sick of losing my breakable ornaments so we decided to "stop the insanity".
First, we mounted the tree stand to a 3 ft. by 3 ft., double thick piece of plywood (the skirt covers it so you don't have to see it). Then we installed a hook (like the ones you'd hang a plant on) in the ceiling directly above where the tree would stand. We wrap a piece of thin, but strong chain around the tree trunk and secure it on the ceiling hook. The tree, with the topper almost hits the ceiling so only about an inch of the chain shows - it's not even noticeable. With a setup like this, the tree is going NOWHERE.
I don't use tinsel for obvious reasons, but hate the look of shiny garland so I use bead garland. The cats don't seem too interested in it. With few exceptions, most of my ornaments are plastic or resin so if they do fall off the tree, I won't be that upset.
Our one cat, Tibbs, was only a few months old last Christmas but he really wasn't interested in the tree at all. This year, our kitten Serena, will be about 4 months old when we put the tree up. She's already shown us how curious she is so hopefully our setup will work this year.
Posted 4 months ago by Beth_in_NJ #
I remember someone saying that since cats are repelled by citrus smells, putting orange peel around the bottom of the tree keeps them away. For some reason our sibling kits, Digit and Furl, haven't gone after our tree in the last three years. However, we now have "the bold one"--Boots--who may show them just how tree destruction is done. lol
Posted 4 months ago by Kitten Whisperer #
I tried using one of the artificial trees with fiber optic lights last year. Yep thought it would be fine, no dangly lights on it for temtation, sure wrong!!! Little girl thought the fiber optic light points were put there for her nibbling pleasures, everytime I turned around she was chewing on the ends of the branches, finally just put it away....only one that 'eats' artificial plants especially flowers. Haven't decided if I want to try putting up a tree that doesn't have any lights at all up, still would love to try putting an upside down tree hanging from the ceiling once of these days.
Posted 4 months ago by AZDEBRA 5/27 & crew #
*sighs*..... many years of experience with cats & christmas trees here!...Abby wants to nap amongst the presents - I'm ok with that, she typically doesn't claw them, or try to climb the tree......
... Cuddles, on the other hand..... well, let's just say, there have been a few years, that she's been a "tinsel" butt (literally).... so I nix the tinsel now!.... LOL
Well, my little one hasn't been feeling too great and we put the tree up today. This should be interesting. They are nibbling at the ends of the branches and trying to get at the ornaments they can reach by standing on their back legs. We didn't put any around the bottom for that reason but they're tall that way. We'll see how this works out.
Awww, I hope you have better luck with the smaller one.
So far, I've been pretty lucky. Our tree has been up for a week. Sgt. Tibbs, our 1 year old male, couldn't care less about the tree this year and our 4 month old kitten Serena hasn't been too bad with it either. I purposely left the bottom branches relatively bare, but that still hasn't stopped her from knocking a few ornaments down here and there. She doesn't seem interested in climbing it, though. I wonder if the citrus thing is true? We cut down our tree at a tree farm, and we always get a concolor fir which smells like citrus (as opposed to pine). I'm wondering if that's the reason that none of my cats over the years have ever tried to climb up into it.
Posted 3 months ago by Beth_in_NJ #
I put up a tree this year for the first time in many years. I have only one cat now and she is 12yrs old so no wild kittens around. It seems safe so far. She supervised the assembly and set up with much suspicion. As soon as the pre-lit artifical tree was set up and positioned I put the skirt under the tree. She investigated that quickly and spent the next 2 days on her new blanket under her tree. She has moved to higher ground I think only because the temperature here as dropped below 30 degrees outside and my floor gets cold then.
Posted 3 months ago by TrufflesMom #
Neither Polly nor Suki bothered too much about the tree, but this will be Garbo's and Pickle's first year. Pickle has already shredded the curtain linings, so I cannot imagine for a second that she will ignore the tree. It doesn't go up until Christmas Eve, but they may be shut out of the room when we are not here to supervise........
Posted 3 months ago by Pollys_Mum_in_UK_2605 #
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