# Cats and the Christmas tree?



## kty78 (Mar 18, 2012)

I don't have it up yet but I can already foresee it being a problem. I have read oranges around the tree will deter them. I am not too sure about that but will try it. Anybody found anything that worked to keep them out of the tree? I am pretty sure my new ornaments I bought on clearance last year are plastic, but I just don't want them destroying the tree in general.


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## 3furbabies (Dec 7, 2011)

Last year we only had two out of the three cats. I don't see the older one posing a problem but the younger two will again. We had a little tree and they knocked it over several times a day and broke all our ornaments. It was to the point we would have to move the tree in another room when we weren't home. Pain in the rear. We are still debating if we are going to get a large tree or not. Can two cats knock over a 6 foot tree?? Lol


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## Ragdoll_Joy (Jul 13, 2012)

First Christmas with our little feline....We are getting a real tree and have plastic ornaments. We plan on usuing wall anchors but are still a little worried!


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## shishathecat (Nov 5, 2012)

My Shisha (4years old) still goes crazy over the tree. I got some picture hanging wire and 2 wall anchors that I keep stored with the tree. I keep put the tree up in the corner of the room and wrap the wire around the center, securing both ends into the wall with the anchors, in the corner where the tree blocks them from view. IN 2 years she hasn't been able to take it down lol.


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## Nan (Oct 11, 2010)

I put up a tree (fake) last year. They played with a couple of the ornaments at the bottom but genereally didn't bother it. They liked to lie on and play on top of the tree skirt underneath & it was always getting messed up.


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## munchkn8835 (Oct 9, 2012)

We may just put ours out on the deck like we did last year!! No mess inside and it was so nice to look out on the deck and see the tree.


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## Nell (Apr 7, 2005)

I've never had a cat knock down a tree, but for those with more rambunctious felines, the wall anchors sound like a good idea.

There are other hazards to Christmas trees to be aware of, as well, but if you take a few precautions, you and your kitties can have a safe holiday.
I would suggest keeping the fragile ornaments towards the middle to the top of the tree in case you're cat decides they'd make good toys. Some cats also like to chew on electrical wires, which can be very dangerous, so, if you have a chewer, make sure wires are not hanging where they are easy for kitty to reach.
Tinsel is another thing that can be dangerous for your pet. Shiny, dangling tinsel...so tempting to play with! Tinsel, if eaten, can become tangled in the digestive track, which would result in emergency surgery to remove the obstruction. Better to skip it altogether I think.


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## Zilla (Oct 29, 2012)

Never seen a cat knock over a tree but Id imagine its slightly comical haha My past cats usually just liked to sprint under it and play with the ornaments. I haven't had a tree yet with the current ones. We are thinking about getting a big one this year. Im not sure how great its gonna go.


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## Mom of 4 (Jul 29, 2006)

Two out of the three love the annual cat tree. They manage to climb up 6" from the top - such cute faces peeking out. But we do discourage tree climbing. And I don't put fragile ornaments, garland or icicles on the tree.
It's fake tree, with a very wide base.


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## nicichan (Jul 6, 2012)

We were looking after someone's kitten over christmas last year and she didn't really try to climb the tree, she was just pawing the baubles and biting some wooden ornaments. I think one or two broke, but it wasn't too bad. Now we've got our own cat and she loves climbing, so I'm worried about this as well. She doesn't have access to the living room when we're not home though so I hope we can stop her from knocking it over. We probably won't have a quiet minute once that tree is up though..


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## Syrena (Nov 29, 2011)

We adopted our kitty last year in October. By Christmas, she was 8 months old. Still very playful and interested in everything that moves. I purchased only plastic ornaments. I highly recommend it! Ginfis was trying to knock of all ornaments that were at the bottom and when she was successful, she played with them and chased them all over the apartment. rcatShe also tried to climb it and jump on it from the sofa! Once, we came home after afternoon of skiing and the tree was knocked on the floor. Naughty kitty!

I hope that this year her behavior towards the tree changed! She is not a kitten anymore!


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## Lucas718 (Feb 19, 2012)

I'm actually kind of dreading this. I envision broken ornaments all over the house and the tree being knocked over several times. 


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## LadyK (Jan 30, 2012)

Last Christmas was our first year with Josie, so I wasn't sure how she would do with the tree. We always get a real tree, and we intentionally selected a smaller than normal tree... it was less than 6 ft tall. We put lights on it but no ornaments, since I was afraid she would knock it over. Fortunately, she left it alone. She enjoyed sitting under the tree, but didn't try to climb it. I think we'll go the same route this year and hopefully will have a similar experience. 

I missed the ornaments, but it was a lot easier to take down without them.


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## 3furbabies (Dec 7, 2011)

Zilla said:


> Never seen a cat knock over a tree but Id imagine its slightly comical haha My past cats usually just liked to sprint under it and play with the ornaments. I haven't had a tree yet with the current ones. We are thinking about getting a big one this year. Im not sure how great its gonna go.


It was only comical the first 5 times... After that it was annoying and I wanted to throw the tree out the window. Lol. It was a really small tree and they were only 4 and 5 months old at the time. The would both chase each other into the tree and wrestle underneath. Lol


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## rightsaidfed (May 31, 2012)

This will be my first Christmas with a cat. I'm so worried about the tree. It sounds like it may be easier not to have one. I'll try without the ornaments first and see how it goes. 


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## sueasinsue (Jun 23, 2011)

*it depends on the cat*

I have had cats that could care less about the tree-and then I have had cats that insist on sleeping in the tree, climbing it to the top, etc. My 2 year old calico Ez-LOVES the tree, and now I have two 6 month old kittens as well. I told my husband forget the tree this year!


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## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

I'm just braced for chaos!!!!


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I was HOPING Book would be mature enough for me to put up a tree this year but.... I think we'll give him one more Christmas without one. I thought about anchoring a tree to the wall and putting cat toys on it instead of decorations  

A variety of fuzzy mice, milk tabs, fuzzy balls, and raffia but... it sounded a little too crazy cat lady even for me.


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

I use an artificial tree. My girls love to sniff everything when I'm in the process of putting the tree up. But once it's up, they don't bother with the tree or the ornaments, except for sometimes hiding underneath the tree. Now, the Christmas bags and boxes are a different story. They love to play in those!


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## Alex Harris (May 4, 2012)

We had one up last year and my oldest and at the time only cat just liked to look at the lights,but she never bothered it. Now that we have a 9 month old, it should be interesting to see if he can restrain himself. He may surprise us and leave it alone.


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

Ragdoll_Joy said:


> First Christmas with our little feline....We are getting a real tree and have plastic ornaments. We plan on usuing wall anchors but are still a little worried!


I don't know if it's already been said but I think I read somewhere once that real trees are toxic or poisonous to cats? I could be wrong though


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

We have 1 4 year old cat and 2 8 week old kittens. We haven't had a Christmas with cats yet as Tinker is a rescue and came to us this January. We got just a cheap artificial tree and I made my own ornaments out of felt so no breakages when the tree is climbed! Can't speak for the tree though.. it might not survive!


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## tigre86 (Nov 3, 2012)

Just put up our new tree today and the cats stalked each other around it all afternoon, lol. This tree is flimsier and "balder" than the tree we had last year so Tigerlilly has been using it to play peek-a-boo with Tucker. She stands up on her hind legs and peeks through the empty spots to see where he's at. I foresee her knocking the tree over before the month is over, lol. She didn't really bother it last year but now that she has a play mate, the stakes have changed.


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## Penny135 (Apr 6, 2011)

Four years ago this Christmas I bought a brand new 6 1/2 foot artificial Christmas tree. Within a week all the bows were pointing toward the floor as the cats had broken them because they kept climbing it. I have a 2 foot tall one now (my kids are on their own now). I guess I'll see how it and the lights around the windows fair this year.


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## koneko_otaku (Jul 22, 2010)

My cat used to like climbing tree but a firm no and rolled up newspaper usually get them to stop. One of my cat Marshmellow (before he passed away) used to love Christmas tree and would always nap under it. He never tried to climb the tree once.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

When I was breeding cats bac in the 1980s and 1990s, we did not do a tree. We did a large wreath hung on the wall and decorated like a tree. We had twenty-four cats then and every year despite nailing it to the floor and wall anchoring it, the cats would have the tree stripped and on the floor after as few as four days. The wreath was a compromise. And the cats still tried to jump up on the wreath and strip it bare!


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## rdswan14 (Nov 2, 2012)

We stopped putting up a tree after the kids moved out. I hesitate to put one up. Maybe a tabletop one.


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## Nan (Oct 11, 2010)

My only problem is with the tree skirt. I have an aritifical tree. A couple of the lower-hanging oraments get played with, but what they really love to do is sleep and play on the tree skirt & it gets messed up.


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## annegirl (Oct 16, 2012)

I'm actually thinking of not putting a tree up this year. I have two 6 month old fur babies and they are soooo active. They are great fun but not sure if I'm ready for Christmas tree demolition.


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## Penny135 (Apr 6, 2011)

My trees already dead (artificial) and it was up 4 days.


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## Catmamma (Apr 18, 2011)

I bought a ceramic tree (table top) with the lights in it. The cats ignored it last year. My calico loved the artificial tree too much. She always climbed it. Sadly, she has gone (over the rainbow bridge) so I might try the tree on Pippy and see what she does. I would be gone in two days.


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## nicichan (Jul 6, 2012)

We put up our tree at the weekend. It's an artificial one and we only use plastic baubles on it that won't break. So far it's been OK. Ruby is very interested in it, she just bats the baubles and tries to climb up. I tell her off if she lifts her back legs off the ground though and she usually gets the message, and I think the branches further up are too close together for her to be able to climb up anyway. She does bite the branches sometimes, but she likes biting hard stuff in general. It's on a sideboard kinda thing (the tree is slightly smaller than me) so she can't run up to it, but I just really hope she won't knock it off that. I won't leave her in the living room by herself for now anyway.


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## Syrena (Nov 29, 2011)

My tree is up since Saturday and constantly attacked by Ginfis..as I see, even if she is not a kitten anymore, she perceives the tree as a big toy with lot of dangling things on it...l am a bit sad, that I will not be able to buy some beautiful glass ornaments...but they would not survive one Christmas!
Plastic ornaments are way to go!


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## julez1054 (Dec 3, 2012)

I had the same fear as well with my 5 month old kitten. I wasn't sure what to expect when i put the tree up. This is our first Christmas together lol. I bought a semi big artificial tree - and for the first few days she didn't pay it any attention. I was slightly shocked because she does tend to be a trouble maker. I was even bragging about her good behavior. I leave her alone for 8 hours a day while I work too - when I'd come home, it was untouched! Well unfortunately I spoke too soon. After about half a week of getting comfy with it, she's begun to start batting all the christmas balls off - I come home from work now and about 6 of them are all over my apartment. My fear is coming home and finding it toppled over. Hopefully that doesn't happen. What a pain in the butt....


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## FatCat20 (Aug 16, 2012)

We've also put our tree up on Sunday. Lizzie climbs in the back of it where she made a "bed" and likes to sleep there. No broken ornaments, however a few fell out during climbing. She also drank water from the stand initially, before I wizened up and covered it. She is only six pounds so I doubt that she will be able to knock it over. She also likes to sit at the bottom on the tree skirt and watch us from under the branches. Very cute.


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## Lucas718 (Feb 19, 2012)

I'm ready to take ours down because I'm sick of chasing the cat out of it.


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