Chelli Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Any tried and true ideas for keeping the cat out of the tree? We have an artificial tree that we started putting up last night. Immediately the cat proceeded to climb up through the branches to the top. I've halted the process since i don't want to add ornaments until we've figured out a way to keep the cat out of it. The space is not one that I can put anything around the tree. TIA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northwoodsmama Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 We have discovered that the first few days seem to be the most interesting to our cats, so we set the tree up and wait a couple of days to decorate. We seem to have fewer broken ornaments that way! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Get a plant mister that you can fill up with water and squirt the cat when s/he goes near the tree (a squirt gun would work as well). You can also spray "Bitter Apple" on the tree. It is supposed to repel cats and you can probably get it at your local pet store. The other thing we did was to loop fishing line around the trunk of the tree and tie it to something else - like a curtain rod or something stationary (to prevent the tree falling over). Hopefully, others will have ideas. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 I have an older tree where I put up the branches one by one. Last year we didn't put the bottom 4 or 5 rows of branches on the tree. We also don't put the ornaments on right away. In fact, today we'll put up the tree and some lights, and then tomorrow or Wed we'll put on the decorations. We also use water to spray them when they go near it. This has worked in the past, but we have two new kitties this year and I'm not sure how it will go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Oh - I meant to add that when one of our cats was in the climbing-the-tree phase, my spouse slept on the couch while we had the tree up. Not ideal by any means, but effective intervention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjand6more Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 We have 2 cats. We have always had indoor dogs, but never cats. I am SO worried about this! We bought a large package of plastic ornaments at Costco for $20. I hope it is not an issue. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Orange peels worked for us last year. I put fresh peels under the tree every day or so. She pretty much left the tree alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 (edited) After we put up our tree we leave it undecorated for a couple of days. (We put up a cut tree.) We also anchor it to the wall--tied with string through eyehooks screwed into the wall just above the window frame. The cats seem to lose interest in climbing the tree after a couple days, though they still bat at the ornaments until it's all taken down. Edited November 27, 2016 by Cinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ailaena Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 We have discovered that the first few days seem to be the most interesting to our cats, so we set the tree up and wait a couple of days to decorate. We seem to have fewer broken ornaments that way! Thirding this. Also, we kept glass bulbs off of the bottom couple of branches! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 I switched to shatterproof ornaments. My cats aren't too bad once they're adults but as a kid we had a cat who loved to be up the tree and frequently tipped it. It was difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 My dad put a small hook in the ceiling over the tree and tied our tree to that hook with fishing line. That cat lived to be ancient and did his best to climb the tree every year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trulycrabby Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 We have two teenage kittens. I just took all the ornaments off the tree and try not to think about it. :zombie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schadenfreude Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Cats don't like citrus or cinnamon. You can spray the tree with either essential oil to keep them away or use fresh orange peel like someone else posted. We have 2 cats that love to climb but won't go near the tree. We use a liberal spritzing of cinnamon oil. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 We haven't had a cat climb a tree, but once I did have one that would eat the fake needles and then throw up :ack2: . We decorated our (artificial) tree today, and Kitty is sitting happily under there, purring to herself. She is an indoor cat, so trees are a novelty for her. Evidently she loves it :001_wub: . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 There's no stopping our cats from climbing the tree, but I don't mind. They have a blast and it's fun to watch. The tree is anchored to the wall so they can't tip it over, and while they occasionally knock an ornament off, none have ever broken. We keep our tree very simple and don't have ornaments that are fancy or fragile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquirrellyMama Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 In the past we tied the tree to something on our bookshelf to keep it from tipping when the cat climbed it :) This year we sprayed him a couple times with our Naughy Kitten Sprayer, and then left the spray bottle under the tree. He bothered it for the first day, and has left it alone for the most part since. He'll probably knock it over tonight :) Kelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 Christmas Eve morning a few Christmases ago we found all three of our then indoor cats happily peaking out at us from various branches of the tree. :) Agree with others, leave up the tree without decorations for a few days but also try using citrus and squirt bottles and you probably should try to anchor the tree just in case. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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