kitty and xmas tree?

Question

im planning on setting up my xmas tree tonight, and im worried about the kitten climbing in and attacking my ornaments or knocking it over...can someone help?

i put it up lastnight with no ornaments (its a prelit artifical)...he tried climbing a few times so i sprayed him with water, i think he's more interested in all the lights than anything, he was actually begging for us to turn them on this morning. Im going to leave it empty for a few days so he gets bored of it

Answer 1

try not to let the kitten in where the tree is block off the doorway with something kittens go for shiny objects and things that dangle for them to grab .... or put something around the tree

Answer 2

It is a tough one, I know, I'm debating whether to put up my tree or not. Last Christmas my two kittens were only around 10 weeks old and I had an artificial tree. I don't know how many times we got home to find it on the floor, and that the plastic baubles had been batted around the place. They also seemed intrigued at opening everyone else's presents that were under the tree!
However, if you do want him/her to learn not to climb the tree and he/she isn't an outdoors cat, you could get a spray bottle of water and give him/her a squirt when they try to climb it. This is probably not a good idea if they are an outdoor cat because they may then have trouble climbing trees, due to the whole water thing. That's the only thing I can come up with. I'm still debating, and probably will be right up until Christmas!!!

Answer 3

ok i have lots of experience with this. what i would do is let the kitten climb the tree first WITHOUT ornaments so its not curious any more, most of the time it will get stuck at the top and fall down and probably won't want to do it again. i know sounds harsh but it works lol! so that takes care of the climbing for the playing with the ornaments just make sure you put non breakable ornaments on the bottom so if i does happen to ge tone it won't break!

Answer 4

Don't hang ornaments on the lower third of the tree, and if the kitten is a wire chewer, don't put lights on it. You might also want to just hang up the tougher ornaments for the first day or two in case kitty is a tree climber. After your trial run, you could add the rest of the ornaments. Between babies & cats, I haven't had a Christmas tree in 5 years!

Answer 5

Xmas trees and cats/kittens are sometimes an 'adventure' to behold! LOL

I mean HOW CAN A CAT RESIST all those shiny bobbly things hanging there just waiting to be batted ?

I had to end up using unbreakable ornaments [made of plastic or textiles] because the breakable ones can also cause injury. And as another reader stated, NO icicles/tinsel/ropes, because they chew on it and swallow it and you could end up with a kitten whose intestines 'freeze' up due to the 'wrapping' by what they swallowed.

SOMEtimes the spray cans of stuff that repel cats works. You can get that in any pet store.

Answer 6

I had a cat one time that would climb the tree and just sleep on one of the branches -- weird feeling the first time I walked by and the 'tree' blinked. I jumped and then bust out laughing.

Then years later, I had another cat and she would knock the tree down - every time we left her in the house alone.

SO -- you won't know what to do until you set up your tree. Don't put up glass ornaments and definitely NO tinsel.

Answer 7

Sounds formula.My cats use to climb the tree and steal the ornaments.We take fish line( triple it up or so) and tie our tree back to the wall.On stealing the ornaments,I got a spray bottle and filed it with water,every time I caught them getting ready to attack the tree I would spray them.They learned to leave the tree alone.

Answer 8

Good luck. I put mine up on Saturday. My cat has already tried to scale it three times. Each morning I wake up the bottom limbs are bent downwards and messy. I tried all the things that people have been suggesting. I tried oranges, aluminum foil, and the spray that is supposed to deter pets. Guess what. None of it worked!! He is just testing his limits. Three days later and he is really not messing with it as much. I think it was just a new thing that he could do, but now he's bored with it.

Answer 9

My cats like playing with ornaments so what I do is put cheat and unbreakable ones at the bottom so they can play with those and I put all breakable and expensive ones at the top. My cats also love to sleep and lye under it so let them because if you try to block it they will try harder to get in and make a mess.

Answer 10

Christmas Tree + Kitten = Disaster

We have two cats, they are almost 8 now, and every year we tried to trust them with the tree, and every year we replaced decorations, now we leave them in the bedrooms with food and litter when we can't watch them.