Cat keeps destroying the tree.....WWYD?

[Prairie~Phlox]

Our kitten that is 6 months old has been a real terror to our tree. There are ornaments all over, it looks a mess, and about 50 out of 200 lights are not working....so these are my options I'm thinking about, WWYD?

 

I have 2 200 light strands in the attic, but they only have 1 end with the plug, no plug at the other end to connect them....Hey, they were free!

 

I should ad, I was/am hoping to find lights on clearance after Christmas, but not even sure if I will be able to, I want white lights. I'm going to Hobby Lobby today, I could check there for lights.

I'm just kidding about killing the cat!

Edited December 22, 2010 by Prairie~Phlox

[Lawana]

We have a 3 month old kitten, so I can relate. She thinks the tree is her own private jungle gym. We've used a spray bottle of water to get her away from the tree, with only minimal success. It works until the next time she thinks climbing to the top and knocking over the angel is a good idea.:grouphug:

[Brigitte]

I voted to use what you have an redo for Christmas morning. However, I would also say just leave it and forget about it. I would not get too worked up over it, nor would I spend extra money on it. Just think how cheap new lights will be on the 26th. THen you will have new lights and a more mature kitty for next year.

[Tammyla]

Alarm the tree with a motion censored musical or laughing holiday thing, placed in the cat's path. My mom has a dancing, singing Christmas tree to keep her pup away from hers.

[JudoMom]

It should be multiple choice. I voted get the lights you want now and redo the tree. I love looking at a pretty tree. If the way the tree looked bothered me, it would dampen my spirit, so I'd figure out some way to fix it. And it sounds like you'd really like to fix it as well, but you're being practical.

 

If it was multiple choice, I would've voted for offing the kitty, too. But since I couldn't, I'm going to misuse an apostrophe in order to get the job done, so I'm going to reiterate my choice of just buying the light's!

 

 

(I'm totally kidding. I wouldn't really want you to off the kitty, and no kittens were actually harmed in the typing of that sentence ;))

[MamaT]

I have three kittens that are 2 months old. I have decided to ignore their antics in the tree. It's just not worth driving myself crazy over. Thankfully, they haven't really destroyed anything.

 

I would ignore them, and then like another poster suggested, use what you have to make your tree pretty C-mas morning.

[JFSinIL]

We have four cats and a tag-wagging Labrador. Our tree is anchored with wires to the bolted-into-the-wall hooks that support window curtains on either side so it won't fall over if climbed. What remains after 19 years of one of those six-part baby gate yard things keeps the dog from wagging his tail into the tree...and the fatter old cats from getting to it. All fragile ornaments are super-fastened, not just hung, on the tree. Softer, non-breakables adorn the bottom third. At night, or when no one is home and able to yell "Get off", all doors to the living room are closed and the room is left pet-free.

 

We have never found the anti-pet spray stuff to work - it only made the kids complain!

 

Now - when we had toddlers and a kitten - we had a smaller tree and hung it up-side-down from the ceiling!

[Susann]

You might want to try orange peels. This year we put orange peels under the tree and for the first time our three cats are leaving it alone. Something about the citrus smell really keeps the cats away. We change out the peels every day or two as they dry out.

[rwilliams]

put a helium ballon around your tree. it would scare our cats away from the tree.

[AnitaMcC]

BTDT with cats in Christmas tree.

 

The first few years, our cat loved to sleep in the Christmas tree-LOL. He was so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

All we did was make sure that the ornaments weren't breakable, and we wired the tree to the wall so it wouldn't fall.

 

The cat is now almost 10 yrs old and he just sleeps under the tree. He is way too heavy at 17lbs (he is an in/outdoor cat so he isn't fat... just muscled) -LOL. He will sometimes play with the ornaments hanging from bottom branches. We just make sure these ornaments are safe for him to play with and attach the tree to the wall still- LOL. He doesn't play with it much so not a big deal.

[Pippen]

OK, we actually miss those first few years when our cat thought that the tree was his personnel playground. It was so cute! He would climb it and knock ornaments off, we just took off anything breakable. It was just so funny to watch. I think the second year he was a bit bigger and dh actually used something to secure the tree to the wall :lol:

.

 

I was thinking the same thing. :D Our cat holds the family record for knocking the tree over the quickest (under two minutes from going up). We have a circular wooden base for it so I put screw eyes in that and secured the tree up with twine, then took off all the valuables. I think I must have had...oh, about 2 good tree years between the littles and the kitten. Now that he's 19 pounds he's no longer climbing the tree but he knocks off a few ornaments now and then.

 

One year I had to totally take lights off the tree because my toddler was collecting them and putting them in his mouth.

[Paula in PA]

See that beautiful cat in my avatar? That's our tree menace. It wasn't so bad the first year, he was only 5 months old and still small. The next year he was bigger (actually huge, not fat mind you, just huge) and still determined to sleep in the tree. This year he has accomplices, two sweet, just-past-kittenhood cats that are determined to climb and play with the (non-breakable) ornaments. Thankfully they haven't damaged anything yet and the tree is anchored.

[SonshineLearner]

Funny, our little orange bundle of joy, who is 4 months old... has left our tree alone. I was worried, because I thought he'd try to bite the cord. I asked my husband to start the decorations at least a foot up, wonder if he listened to me... I'll have to go check. Other than spraying the cat with water... cats climb trees... it's kinda part of the way they are.... ;)

[Robin M]

Don't hang ornaments at the very bottom. Hang the more valuable at the top. Keep a spray bottle of water around. We call it Dr. No. Works quite well.

[Cindy in the NH Woods]

 

 

"Santa Claws"

 

;)

[Catwoman]

I'm just kidding about killing the cat!

 

SURE you are... ;)

 

Cat

[Truscifi]

If you redo it, the cat will just ruin it again. Just leave it and enjoy your holiday!

[stephanier.1765]

Probably the best thing is just to go with the flow. We had a kitten one year for Christmas and it was insane but we all still look back on it fondly and with a few laughs. We still love that cat despite his kitten antics. :lol::lol::lol:

[jenn-]

 

"Santa Claws"

 

;)

 

Aw, you beat me to it. A must watch Simon's Cat video. The first year we had a cat, he scaled the entire tree and no ornaments were safe. I would just stick a few of the unbreakable ornaments up before going to bed and hope he doesn't undecorate by morning.

[Cindy in the NH Woods]

Aw, you beat me to it. A must watch Simon's Cat video. The first year we had a cat, he scaled the entire tree and no ornaments were safe. I would just stick a few of the unbreakable ornaments up before going to bed and hope he doesn't undecorate by morning.

 

Aren't these little videos sweet?

[Tree House Academy]

I remember days when my cats were young and would tear the tree all to hell. LOL. For that matter, I can also remember when my kids were young and tore the tree to hell!

 

Funny, what I wouldn't give to have my 13 year old cat that died this summer back to tear up my tree...just as long as she was healthy again. :( Enjoy your kitty and don't worry about having the perfect tree. It will be a fun memory later!

[DianeW88]

Cats and trees. Sigh. Not all of our kitties climbed our tree, but the one who did made up for those who didn't. There really isn't anything you can do to stop it. You might as well resign yourself to that. This is now my climber's fourth Christmas....she has not climbed the tree this year. Time is your friend in this. However, you might want to make a note....her second Christmas (when she was just past one year old) was far worse than her kitten Christmas. Sorry.