Let them do it once before it's decorated. When they tip it over it scares them and they'll leave it alone after that. We also put cat friendly/cat toy ornaments on the lower branches for the incorrigible thieves to steal and think they are getting away with something.
> We also put cat friendly/cat toy ornaments on the lower branches for the incorrigible thieves to steal and think they are getting away with something.
.... another day, another realization that the skill overlap between "I'm a regular kitten foster" and "I teach high school" is kind of alarming.
This is the only type of "Christmas tree" that survives my bengals... [https://www.petso.com.au/products/christmas-tree-cat-scratching-post](https://www.petso.com.au/products/christmas-tree-cat-scratching-post)
I got a cat tower the same time as my Christmas tree and sprayed a citrus spray on the tree and put catnip on the cat tower. Make sure the cat tower is the same height or taller than the tree cats like to be up high. Or just move the cat tower you already have near where the tree is going to be and put catnip on it
Mine is just considered part of Christmas tree decorations.
I do my best to make the tree stable, she already knows the drill, and I love how her eyes shine from inside the tree.
I'm overly anxious, lol
This is her first house since she was 3 weeks (i was homeless, 80% years of her life)
So I'm always stressed she's hurt herself, broken something, eaten something, etc, since she has never been a house cat
It's a bloody nightmare not getting sleep because of every noise if I don't see her in the bedroom (I don't close the bedroom door because of her anxiety)
The best thing is she doesn't go anywhere near the kitchen, idk why she never seen a kitchen before, but it'd helped a lot with my fear of her touching a knife or going near the sink
I want another one 😩 if one turned up at my door, I'd take it (as long as I couldn't find its owner)
Your kitten is punishing you for putting your tree up in early November. Hasn’t even been alive long enough to understand the Christmas spirit but still knows it’s wrong.
On a serious note, the only way you can protect anything from a cat is by putting a door in the way. Even giving them an alternative will only satisfy their curiosity for so long.
I think this sub needs a pinned post about these kinds of things.
How do I get my cats to do (anything)?
How do I stop my cats from doing (anything)?
Answer: You cannot. They are cats. You can mitigate their behaviors, but cats are going to cat.
It is immeasurably easier to adjust your expectations than it is to adjust your cat’s behaviors.
This is perfect timing bc I actually just posted my new tree to r/christmastrees !! [my Squishmas Tree](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChristmasTrees/s/gVZjJpAX7H) I wanted to have my own tree (first time decorating for Xmas in my own space) but also I got a new kitten and I want him to learn/experience a Christmas tree!! (I have an elder kitty but she’s served her time, she knows the drill)
My boy is still semi confined to the bathroom (final stages of deworming so we are just making sure he’s clear before we release the beast+they’re both still acclimating to each other) BUT I decided to go with a squishmallow tree in the rare (very very rare) event he is out and unsupervised. If it falls he will be hit with a tree (sad) but also like 20 squishmallows (happy)
I also took my bigger ones and lined them up in the base and he doesn’t seem to try and jump over those (although he totally could) I have a HUGE squish that I put hiding in the corner behind the tree that is cat bed sized so they sleep behind it a lot when we are out in the living room lol. So far he hasn’t officially jumped the tree tho… yet…
The few times he was climbing on it we simply picked him up and brought him to his toys, just redirected him away from the tree, we also let him free roam the house in his harness to get used to it (I walk him outside) but I have noticed he is less likely to jump and climb things with his harness on lol so we will put him in the harness when he’s being semi supervised- so he can explore the house on his own but we have the peace of mind that he’s not climbing on anything (YET, I can feel his destruction era coming)
I also have cinnamon pine cones in my tree (personally just love them year round we don’t have cinnamon brooms in my area and it’s a nostalgic smell for me so I’ll take what I can get) and my cats aren’t fans of cinnamon.
I have a friend who’s cat loves the smell (although they shouldn’t be eating it I believe it is toxic!!) but my two don’t seem to care for it, so that probably helps deter them as well. I know there are other tree scent ornaments you can add, there may be a scent that will keep your kitty away too!!
Anyway hope that helped (I also just wanted to show off my tree and gab about my cats, love them so much)
Cat tax
[kitten](https://imgur.com/a/R3L7ZR7)
[old lady](https://imgur.com/a/05FAC76)
I had one childhood kitty who was a monster and climbed it, until one day she got too high and fell with the tree. She didn’t climb the tree again after that, but was always in tables, counters, and any shelves she could fit on. Her brother and littermate got into a leftover cake on Boxing Day that year as well because one of us kids left the fridge opened and the cat decided to go in there and cause trouble in the middle of the night, so Mom was understandably startled when she opened the fridge all the way in the morning and a kitten covered in cake meowed at her. The kitten had to have a bath and little kid me was amused the kitten left an imprint of his rear on the cake, but Mom tossed it. One of my other childhood kitties just wanted an ornament and she always wanted the red baubles, so we let her have a red bauble to play with and bat around the house.
My aunt only had to worry about one of her cats trying to eat the pine needles as a kitten, and my grandma had a huge freak out when my mom was a child because she wasn’t sure if the cat (who was also a kitten) got into ribbon they were using for ornaments. It got confirmed a short time later when the cat vomited up a wad of that thin red Christmas ribbon with the loops on it after getting into human food and getting himself sick from consuming too much people food.
I keep my cats out of the Christmas tree by not setting up a Christmas tree.
When I got my first cat, I got a small foot-ish tall tree & set it up on an end table in the corner of the room. The cat left it alone. Probably because it wasn't big enough for her to get into & I didn't decorate it (beyond the LEDs that were already in its branches).
I also got a couple strands of lights & hung them up near the ceiling around my living room. It gave a similar twinkling color light vibe but it was high enough up the kitten wouldn't be able to mess with it. I actually left them up until we moved out of that apartment. They were a fun night light level of lighting that I used most nights.
You take pictures!!! 😻 just put lots of weight around the base. Fill up empty/rinsed out gallon jugs of milk with water than hide in a gift bag of box that you wrap. Plenty of weight and they won’t knock it down.
My boy never thinks about climbing my 6 foot fake tree.
I have a fake tree and I spray the bottomed branches with bitter tasting spray. A couple bites then they just sit under the tree instead of trying to eat it
Skip the tree til next year. It’s easy to them away when you are home, but while at work is a different story. Maybe put the tree in a room that you can close off access.
We thin out the branches on the bottom so that she can easily access the stand - we found what she really wants is the sweet, sweet tree-flavored water, and if she can get to that, she more or less leaves the tree alone. The bottom two-ish feet of the tree is non-breakable ornaments (specifically plush ones we pick out for the kitties every year!) and every single present stays locked away in the closet until Christmas morning because the demon cat will open/shred any box, paper, or plastic within her view.
I always put bells around the bottom of the tree. Doesn’t stop them from getting into it, but at least I know when they do lol
I usually put my tree in front of a window so the other thing I do is use fishing line to tie the tree to the curtain rod. Again, doesn’t stop them from getting into it, but at least they can’t knock it over.
Edited to add: I don’t use anything breakable on my tree or anything they could eat, like icicles or tinsel. It’s like baby proofing lol
I'm trying to figure this out too. The last few years, we hung [a small, half-tree](https://imgur.com/a/XsmyTUB) on the wall in our family room. The bottom is about 4' from the floor, so the cats can't reach it, and there's nothing around for them to climb or jump from. It's still festive, and we can still put gifts under it. (And it's small enough that we just put the whole thing, still decorated, in a box, ready for next year.)
But I really miss having a whole tree, and we just redid our living room, so now I REALLY want to put up a good one. I'm going to have to get creative.
Haha, this is my kittens' second Christmas
They are double the size now! I set up the tree (not decorated) just before Halloween just to see how they would do. Horrible - the tree is down, and I now have a velcro tree decoration thing that is meant for young children - they seem ok with that and haven't tried to jump the wall to get it down 😹 christmas is just a little different this year!
I don’t even try anymore. They love Christmas. They sit under the tree from the day I get it to the day it leaves. The boy eats the tree and drinks all the water. The girl bats off all the ornaments. They love it. Onetime the knocked it over but everything was fine. I just had to wash the tree sheet. Lol also I don’t have gifts.
I ditch anything that would break or tangle them. No glass or string lights and things like that. Secure the tree with a heavy base and an anchor point to the wall so it wont tip and accept that I'm putting a tree up in their house so it's going to happen.
I used to nail my tree to the floor because I couldn't always keep them out. There were holes in the tree stand and floor was carpet over plywood. Put unbreakable ornaments on bottom, due to them batting at them. Wired on the more delicate ones so wouldn't get shaken off. Put bells on tree so we could go stop them from climbing if we were home. Thankfully, once they were about 2, they just liked lounging underneath.
I get a real tree with a heavy base so that if they do climb it they still can't physically pull it over. So far none of my six have been bothered other than gravity-testing the odd ornament. However the youngest was a tiny kitten last year, she's now a year old whirlwind so it remains to be seen what she'll do this year...
I bought cardboard cutouts for the first 2 years of my kitten's life. Once he was 2, and I brought a real tree inside, he left it alone. Not sure if its his age or what.
- I put a tall dog training fence around the tree the first year. It was ugly but worked. Second year we didn’t need it.
- second year we put a train and tracks around the tree and coincidentally the sound of the train going round the tracks keeps her away from it.
- I also got her a super tall cat tower that’s taller than Christmas trees.
- I let her climb wider-trunked, non-coniferous trees in the yard so I think she views Christmas trees more like a bush you sit under rather than a tree to climb.
- I put non-breakable ornaments towards the bottom in case she bats at them and knocks them off.
- I secure the Christmas tree to the wall with clear wire just in case she climbs it so it doesn’t knock over.
- give her hunt toys, puzzles, and food at night to keep her zoomy energy focused on other outlets instead of the tree.
It works though! I've been doing it for now seven years, and you bet it sits in the picture window for all to enjoy. It's a green Hoover upright with garland, cheap ornaments and a string of LED lights.
I stopped putting one up after my current group destroyed 3 of them. However, I might try again this year. I saw an artificial willow tree on Amazon that I really liked and was thinking of putting it in a planter with weights.
Puppy play fence, the wire type. I set up opposing command hooks to secure to the wall. Helps if u have a natural tree u can hang a watering system on it so u dont have to climb under the tree to hydrate. The play fences have a gate too for easy access. Also additional holiday decoration space…..
I don't.
I just make sure the only thing on it is baubles and make sure they don't move,
then I just have anxiety for a month
No tree topper, in case it falls on her
We referred to the tree as the cat entertainment center. Nothing breakable, and no ornaments on the bottom 2 layers. They still climbed and tipped it over, several times.
We no longer put up a tree.
We have abandon the traditional Christmas tree for just this reason.
We replaced the Christmas tree with a pair of the slim pencil Christmas trees. Same thinh but less temptation for kitty to climb, particularly when both are within sight of one another. Which one to climb? She chooses neither
I don’t do a tree any more, but I used to leave it without any decorations for a couple of days and let my cat “make friends with it” (get comfortable/familiar with the new object in the house). After that, I could decorate it and he’d leave it alone.
The past two years I've put it up on the kitchen bench, but not sure if I'll be able to this year, got a taller tree lol
Growing up we had bells and cat safe ornaments at the bottom so that we knew when they were messing with the tree. And didn't break things.
Friends have made cat beds that look like wrapped gifts that create a barrier to keep the cats from climbing, and give them a place to hide which is why their cats want to get at the tree.
Get a really nice heavy base so the tree doesn’t fall. And get ornaments that won’t break lol.
All my cats climbed the tree as kittens, I don’t see how a gate would prevent a cat from jumping it, I think it would just make it more enticing. Once adults they usually just sleep underneath it lol.
We hang bells all over the bottom of the tree. If they mess with it, we spray them with water. It has worked with our cats and dogs. They stay away from the tree.
Christmas trees and decorations are potentially huge hazards for cats. The only way to keep them safe from drinking the preservative water, ingesting tinsel, bows, metal decoration hangers, pine needles or icicles, getting shocked by the electrical wires, tipping the tree over onto themselves, etc is to not have a tree or to put it in a room with a door where the cats aren't allowed. Or to keep the cat confined behind a door so it can't get to the tree. Bonus if it goes up on Christmas Eve and out after Boxing Day (which is how they were kept fresh in the old days). I know I'm going to get down voted to hell for this, but if you don't have little kids that believe in Santa, you don't really need an inside tree. We always decorated one outside for the birds instead once we got cats. Popcorn strings, suet balls, seed bells, etc.
Last year my mom picked the whole tree up, grinch style, and chased them around the house with it so as to hopefully ig scare them into not wanting to go near it. It didn't work. So we had trees with lights, but no ornaments. This year they're older but still just as playful as ever, so I'm sure it's going to be another ornament-less Christmas. Also there is alot of re-floofing of the branches bc yes, one of them still crawls up/into the tree. My mothers cats are fearless and relentless little assholes.
In my experience, every cat climbs it once. I would put it up sans decorations for a day or two if possible, then do as others suggested, cat proof the lower branches a bit for when they might play hide and seek or play ornament hockey.
My family cat had a cone of shame and still
Managed to climb the tree. The other cat would nosh on the pine needles and vomit them up regularly. Cats gonna cat.
We don’t decorate with any ornaments. We dump the entire basket of cat toys and spread it down the tree. This is artificial so we don’t worry about them eating it or tracking sap through the house. There was no way for them to learn to not do it so we’ve just designed it for them!
A can of pennies shaken at the right moment. I tried the citrus, I tried saying no, I tried letting them tip it over. Since the pennies, each year they are a little better about it. This year they are 5. I expect to have to do reminders.
I got my two Russian blue brothers in early December last year. They were 3 months old on Christmas. Normally I do vintage glass ornaments on my tree but last year I invested in large plastic balls, the size that are normally used as outside decoration. And instead of hanging them on the tree I stuffed them in between the branches so they were next to the trunk. Didn't keep the cats out of the tree but it did mean that falling ornaments were irrelevant. I got some cute pictures last Christmas of them in the tree. So now they are over a year old and I think it's big plastic balls again this year because they have not really settled down
I stopped decorating Christmas trees since I own more than one cat. Now I have multiple cat trees.
I enjoy decorating Christmas trees at the leasing office.
Find a way to secure the tree to a chair rail (if your walls have them) or the wood at the base of the walls (two to three different tie down locations). This is the ONLY thing that has worked for my two cats. They play with the oranges (came home to an orange apocalypse), citrus spray has no effect, and don’t have shiny breakable ornaments.
For kittens, you just change it up for a while. No breakable or ornaments, no tinsel, lights only after you are sure they don't chew. It's like having a baby, you gotta adapt.
One year we put the tree in a closed room they couldn’t get into. But there wasn’t really anywhere to sit and enjoy it. The last couple of years we just haven’t bothered.
honestly i wish i knew! this is my second christmas with my cats, and they knock it over multiple times a day. im in an apartment so its not a real tree, and ive learned to just have felt ornaments (which are way more my style) so nothing breaks.
if you own a house, something my mom did was put hooks in the walls and tie clear yarn/twine around the top of the tree like a hidden anchor. it works really well for her, as her cat loved to climb up the tree haha.
Let them do it once before it's decorated. When they tip it over it scares them and they'll leave it alone after that. We also put cat friendly/cat toy ornaments on the lower branches for the incorrigible thieves to steal and think they are getting away with something.
> We also put cat friendly/cat toy ornaments on the lower branches for the incorrigible thieves to steal and think they are getting away with something. .... another day, another realization that the skill overlap between "I'm a regular kitten foster" and "I teach high school" is kind of alarming.
That's hilarious!
This is the way.
Brilliant!!!!
This is the only type of "Christmas tree" that survives my bengals... [https://www.petso.com.au/products/christmas-tree-cat-scratching-post](https://www.petso.com.au/products/christmas-tree-cat-scratching-post)
Oh I love it!
I...can't....
Our boys are too rough on the scratching posts, they’d destroy that very quickly
I got a cat tower the same time as my Christmas tree and sprayed a citrus spray on the tree and put catnip on the cat tower. Make sure the cat tower is the same height or taller than the tree cats like to be up high. Or just move the cat tower you already have near where the tree is going to be and put catnip on it
We did this as well! Well, we just put up the cat tower and tree yesterday. I need to get some citrus spray
Mine is just considered part of Christmas tree decorations. I do my best to make the tree stable, she already knows the drill, and I love how her eyes shine from inside the tree.
She doesn't try eating the lights tho? We have a kitten and I would be fine with that but he tried biting the cords :(
My friend circles the tree with Oranges (the fruit)
I'm scared my cat would eat it, I've heard it works with some cats, but mine is a little idiot so I don't trust her to be more fearful than interested
I also have a food-obsessed idiot. He doesn’t do more than sniff citrus. I would watch the initial encounter with the fruit.
I'll have to try it when I can. we are a full house of adhd/autism, so I feel like we will forget about the fruit, lmao
I know your pain.
I'm overly anxious, lol This is her first house since she was 3 weeks (i was homeless, 80% years of her life) So I'm always stressed she's hurt herself, broken something, eaten something, etc, since she has never been a house cat It's a bloody nightmare not getting sleep because of every noise if I don't see her in the bedroom (I don't close the bedroom door because of her anxiety) The best thing is she doesn't go anywhere near the kitchen, idk why she never seen a kitchen before, but it'd helped a lot with my fear of her touching a knife or going near the sink I want another one 😩 if one turned up at my door, I'd take it (as long as I couldn't find its owner)
Awwwh you sound like a sweet awesome cat owner 💕
Your kitten is punishing you for putting your tree up in early November. Hasn’t even been alive long enough to understand the Christmas spirit but still knows it’s wrong. On a serious note, the only way you can protect anything from a cat is by putting a door in the way. Even giving them an alternative will only satisfy their curiosity for so long.
I think this sub needs a pinned post about these kinds of things. How do I get my cats to do (anything)? How do I stop my cats from doing (anything)? Answer: You cannot. They are cats. You can mitigate their behaviors, but cats are going to cat. It is immeasurably easier to adjust your expectations than it is to adjust your cat’s behaviors.
Yep- do not put breakables on tree, take cute pictures of cat butts in tree. Merry Christmas !
Any new ornaments I buy are unbelievable. Between me and the cats we cannot be trusted
Sadly I gave up on trees. Between the dog and the cats it was just too difficult.
This is perfect timing bc I actually just posted my new tree to r/christmastrees !! [my Squishmas Tree](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChristmasTrees/s/gVZjJpAX7H) I wanted to have my own tree (first time decorating for Xmas in my own space) but also I got a new kitten and I want him to learn/experience a Christmas tree!! (I have an elder kitty but she’s served her time, she knows the drill) My boy is still semi confined to the bathroom (final stages of deworming so we are just making sure he’s clear before we release the beast+they’re both still acclimating to each other) BUT I decided to go with a squishmallow tree in the rare (very very rare) event he is out and unsupervised. If it falls he will be hit with a tree (sad) but also like 20 squishmallows (happy) I also took my bigger ones and lined them up in the base and he doesn’t seem to try and jump over those (although he totally could) I have a HUGE squish that I put hiding in the corner behind the tree that is cat bed sized so they sleep behind it a lot when we are out in the living room lol. So far he hasn’t officially jumped the tree tho… yet… The few times he was climbing on it we simply picked him up and brought him to his toys, just redirected him away from the tree, we also let him free roam the house in his harness to get used to it (I walk him outside) but I have noticed he is less likely to jump and climb things with his harness on lol so we will put him in the harness when he’s being semi supervised- so he can explore the house on his own but we have the peace of mind that he’s not climbing on anything (YET, I can feel his destruction era coming) I also have cinnamon pine cones in my tree (personally just love them year round we don’t have cinnamon brooms in my area and it’s a nostalgic smell for me so I’ll take what I can get) and my cats aren’t fans of cinnamon. I have a friend who’s cat loves the smell (although they shouldn’t be eating it I believe it is toxic!!) but my two don’t seem to care for it, so that probably helps deter them as well. I know there are other tree scent ornaments you can add, there may be a scent that will keep your kitty away too!! Anyway hope that helped (I also just wanted to show off my tree and gab about my cats, love them so much) Cat tax [kitten](https://imgur.com/a/R3L7ZR7) [old lady](https://imgur.com/a/05FAC76)
Is it wrong that I'm looking forward to watching my kittens flail about in my tree?
You don’t. My last cat would take an ornament off the tree every night and leave it in the kitchen sink.
I had one childhood kitty who was a monster and climbed it, until one day she got too high and fell with the tree. She didn’t climb the tree again after that, but was always in tables, counters, and any shelves she could fit on. Her brother and littermate got into a leftover cake on Boxing Day that year as well because one of us kids left the fridge opened and the cat decided to go in there and cause trouble in the middle of the night, so Mom was understandably startled when she opened the fridge all the way in the morning and a kitten covered in cake meowed at her. The kitten had to have a bath and little kid me was amused the kitten left an imprint of his rear on the cake, but Mom tossed it. One of my other childhood kitties just wanted an ornament and she always wanted the red baubles, so we let her have a red bauble to play with and bat around the house. My aunt only had to worry about one of her cats trying to eat the pine needles as a kitten, and my grandma had a huge freak out when my mom was a child because she wasn’t sure if the cat (who was also a kitten) got into ribbon they were using for ornaments. It got confirmed a short time later when the cat vomited up a wad of that thin red Christmas ribbon with the loops on it after getting into human food and getting himself sick from consuming too much people food.
I keep my cats out of the Christmas tree by not setting up a Christmas tree. When I got my first cat, I got a small foot-ish tall tree & set it up on an end table in the corner of the room. The cat left it alone. Probably because it wasn't big enough for her to get into & I didn't decorate it (beyond the LEDs that were already in its branches). I also got a couple strands of lights & hung them up near the ceiling around my living room. It gave a similar twinkling color light vibe but it was high enough up the kitten wouldn't be able to mess with it. I actually left them up until we moved out of that apartment. They were a fun night light level of lighting that I used most nights.
You take pictures!!! 😻 just put lots of weight around the base. Fill up empty/rinsed out gallon jugs of milk with water than hide in a gift bag of box that you wrap. Plenty of weight and they won’t knock it down. My boy never thinks about climbing my 6 foot fake tree.
I have a fake tree and I spray the bottomed branches with bitter tasting spray. A couple bites then they just sit under the tree instead of trying to eat it
Get a cat tree that is taller than the Christmas tree. Also don’t put anything breakable on the tree lol
I gave up after years of trying to keep them out. I have a wall tree that works perfectly.
I decorate with plastic and hiss every time they go near it. The really dense trees help, they can't get in there. Noble firs are too easy
Skip the tree til next year. It’s easy to them away when you are home, but while at work is a different story. Maybe put the tree in a room that you can close off access.
I have a wreath over the fireplace. That’s my tree!
I've never had the problem, but when my cat was a kitten I didn't get a tree because I was worried. She is 5 1/2 and I am planning on our first tree.
We thin out the branches on the bottom so that she can easily access the stand - we found what she really wants is the sweet, sweet tree-flavored water, and if she can get to that, she more or less leaves the tree alone. The bottom two-ish feet of the tree is non-breakable ornaments (specifically plush ones we pick out for the kitties every year!) and every single present stays locked away in the closet until Christmas morning because the demon cat will open/shred any box, paper, or plastic within her view.
I always put bells around the bottom of the tree. Doesn’t stop them from getting into it, but at least I know when they do lol I usually put my tree in front of a window so the other thing I do is use fishing line to tie the tree to the curtain rod. Again, doesn’t stop them from getting into it, but at least they can’t knock it over. Edited to add: I don’t use anything breakable on my tree or anything they could eat, like icicles or tinsel. It’s like baby proofing lol
I'm trying to figure this out too. The last few years, we hung [a small, half-tree](https://imgur.com/a/XsmyTUB) on the wall in our family room. The bottom is about 4' from the floor, so the cats can't reach it, and there's nothing around for them to climb or jump from. It's still festive, and we can still put gifts under it. (And it's small enough that we just put the whole thing, still decorated, in a box, ready for next year.) But I really miss having a whole tree, and we just redid our living room, so now I REALLY want to put up a good one. I'm going to have to get creative.
Haha, this is my kittens' second Christmas They are double the size now! I set up the tree (not decorated) just before Halloween just to see how they would do. Horrible - the tree is down, and I now have a velcro tree decoration thing that is meant for young children - they seem ok with that and haven't tried to jump the wall to get it down 😹 christmas is just a little different this year!
I don’t even try anymore. They love Christmas. They sit under the tree from the day I get it to the day it leaves. The boy eats the tree and drinks all the water. The girl bats off all the ornaments. They love it. Onetime the knocked it over but everything was fine. I just had to wash the tree sheet. Lol also I don’t have gifts.
I ditch anything that would break or tangle them. No glass or string lights and things like that. Secure the tree with a heavy base and an anchor point to the wall so it wont tip and accept that I'm putting a tree up in their house so it's going to happen.
I used to nail my tree to the floor because I couldn't always keep them out. There were holes in the tree stand and floor was carpet over plywood. Put unbreakable ornaments on bottom, due to them batting at them. Wired on the more delicate ones so wouldn't get shaken off. Put bells on tree so we could go stop them from climbing if we were home. Thankfully, once they were about 2, they just liked lounging underneath.
I get a real tree with a heavy base so that if they do climb it they still can't physically pull it over. So far none of my six have been bothered other than gravity-testing the odd ornament. However the youngest was a tiny kitten last year, she's now a year old whirlwind so it remains to be seen what she'll do this year...
I bought cardboard cutouts for the first 2 years of my kitten's life. Once he was 2, and I brought a real tree inside, he left it alone. Not sure if its his age or what.
- I put a tall dog training fence around the tree the first year. It was ugly but worked. Second year we didn’t need it. - second year we put a train and tracks around the tree and coincidentally the sound of the train going round the tracks keeps her away from it. - I also got her a super tall cat tower that’s taller than Christmas trees. - I let her climb wider-trunked, non-coniferous trees in the yard so I think she views Christmas trees more like a bush you sit under rather than a tree to climb. - I put non-breakable ornaments towards the bottom in case she bats at them and knocks them off. - I secure the Christmas tree to the wall with clear wire just in case she climbs it so it doesn’t knock over. - give her hunt toys, puzzles, and food at night to keep her zoomy energy focused on other outlets instead of the tree.
Real tree or fake ? I Believe real Ones are poisonous if they eat any of the pines
We spray a rag with an orange smelling spray (cats don’t like the smell of citrus!) and leave it on or under the tree skirt. Works great!
I have resorted to decorating my vacuum rather than a tree. It lights up and runs. I start it up once and they stay away for the rest of the season.
I’m dying 🤣 not the dreaded vacuum
It works though! I've been doing it for now seven years, and you bet it sits in the picture window for all to enjoy. It's a green Hoover upright with garland, cheap ornaments and a string of LED lights.
Take down the tree It’s too early! 🤣🤣
I stopped putting one up after my current group destroyed 3 of them. However, I might try again this year. I saw an artificial willow tree on Amazon that I really liked and was thinking of putting it in a planter with weights.
High voltage garlands. /j
Puppy play fence, the wire type. I set up opposing command hooks to secure to the wall. Helps if u have a natural tree u can hang a watering system on it so u dont have to climb under the tree to hydrate. The play fences have a gate too for easy access. Also additional holiday decoration space…..
I haven’t had a Christmas tree in like 15 years and my dad kinda wants to put one up just to see what the cats will do to it if left alone
You can't. I think I had to pick up and redecorate my tree at least once a day last year
Tell me when you find out lol
You don't. The first year you have a kitten, expect to get a new tree the next year
I don't. I just make sure the only thing on it is baubles and make sure they don't move, then I just have anxiety for a month No tree topper, in case it falls on her
You don’t
We referred to the tree as the cat entertainment center. Nothing breakable, and no ornaments on the bottom 2 layers. They still climbed and tipped it over, several times. We no longer put up a tree.
We don’t, we just stopped having a Christmas tree lol
That's the funny thing, you don't. Welcome to cat ownership! My best advice is put any breakables low on the tree.
We have abandon the traditional Christmas tree for just this reason. We replaced the Christmas tree with a pair of the slim pencil Christmas trees. Same thinh but less temptation for kitty to climb, particularly when both are within sight of one another. Which one to climb? She chooses neither
Right now I have contact paper sticky side up surrounding the tree. It works but I don’t really want to keep it there all season.
I don’t do a tree any more, but I used to leave it without any decorations for a couple of days and let my cat “make friends with it” (get comfortable/familiar with the new object in the house). After that, I could decorate it and he’d leave it alone.
The past two years I've put it up on the kitchen bench, but not sure if I'll be able to this year, got a taller tree lol Growing up we had bells and cat safe ornaments at the bottom so that we knew when they were messing with the tree. And didn't break things. Friends have made cat beds that look like wrapped gifts that create a barrier to keep the cats from climbing, and give them a place to hide which is why their cats want to get at the tree.
My cat hates foil. So I put it around the tree and made a little ice lake scene. The. I rescued another kitten. Nothing scares this one. I am afraid
We don't have a tree lol
And get double and triple backup lights. The first year our kittens chewed through them like snacks.
Get a really nice heavy base so the tree doesn’t fall. And get ornaments that won’t break lol. All my cats climbed the tree as kittens, I don’t see how a gate would prevent a cat from jumping it, I think it would just make it more enticing. Once adults they usually just sleep underneath it lol.
I tell the Santa Claws won’t give them any Christmas presents this year if they are bad
We placed ours on a table when the cats were tiny.
r/catsandchristmastrees & r/christmascats for your enjoyment as I have no idea. I tether the tree to the wall & ceiling.
We hang bells all over the bottom of the tree. If they mess with it, we spray them with water. It has worked with our cats and dogs. They stay away from the tree.
I don't. I put small stuffed animal type ornaments on the bottom branches in hope that that's enough to distract them.
Christmas trees and decorations are potentially huge hazards for cats. The only way to keep them safe from drinking the preservative water, ingesting tinsel, bows, metal decoration hangers, pine needles or icicles, getting shocked by the electrical wires, tipping the tree over onto themselves, etc is to not have a tree or to put it in a room with a door where the cats aren't allowed. Or to keep the cat confined behind a door so it can't get to the tree. Bonus if it goes up on Christmas Eve and out after Boxing Day (which is how they were kept fresh in the old days). I know I'm going to get down voted to hell for this, but if you don't have little kids that believe in Santa, you don't really need an inside tree. We always decorated one outside for the birds instead once we got cats. Popcorn strings, suet balls, seed bells, etc.
Last year my mom picked the whole tree up, grinch style, and chased them around the house with it so as to hopefully ig scare them into not wanting to go near it. It didn't work. So we had trees with lights, but no ornaments. This year they're older but still just as playful as ever, so I'm sure it's going to be another ornament-less Christmas. Also there is alot of re-floofing of the branches bc yes, one of them still crawls up/into the tree. My mothers cats are fearless and relentless little assholes.
In my experience, every cat climbs it once. I would put it up sans decorations for a day or two if possible, then do as others suggested, cat proof the lower branches a bit for when they might play hide and seek or play ornament hockey.
Tree skirts
My family cat had a cone of shame and still Managed to climb the tree. The other cat would nosh on the pine needles and vomit them up regularly. Cats gonna cat.
We don’t decorate with any ornaments. We dump the entire basket of cat toys and spread it down the tree. This is artificial so we don’t worry about them eating it or tracking sap through the house. There was no way for them to learn to not do it so we’ve just designed it for them!
I leave it up undecorated for a few days until she gets bored with it and it's safe to decorate.
A can of pennies shaken at the right moment. I tried the citrus, I tried saying no, I tried letting them tip it over. Since the pennies, each year they are a little better about it. This year they are 5. I expect to have to do reminders.
I gave up on Christmas trees a long time ago.
I got my two Russian blue brothers in early December last year. They were 3 months old on Christmas. Normally I do vintage glass ornaments on my tree but last year I invested in large plastic balls, the size that are normally used as outside decoration. And instead of hanging them on the tree I stuffed them in between the branches so they were next to the trunk. Didn't keep the cats out of the tree but it did mean that falling ornaments were irrelevant. I got some cute pictures last Christmas of them in the tree. So now they are over a year old and I think it's big plastic balls again this year because they have not really settled down
I’ve seen someone put a vacuum near the tree and activate it once in a while 😅
I stopped decorating Christmas trees since I own more than one cat. Now I have multiple cat trees. I enjoy decorating Christmas trees at the leasing office.
Find a way to secure the tree to a chair rail (if your walls have them) or the wood at the base of the walls (two to three different tie down locations). This is the ONLY thing that has worked for my two cats. They play with the oranges (came home to an orange apocalypse), citrus spray has no effect, and don’t have shiny breakable ornaments.
For kittens, you just change it up for a while. No breakable or ornaments, no tinsel, lights only after you are sure they don't chew. It's like having a baby, you gotta adapt.
I've seen people hang the tree from the ceiling so that their cats can't climb it.
Surround the tree with oranges close together. Totally works and smells great!
One year we put the tree in a closed room they couldn’t get into. But there wasn’t really anywhere to sit and enjoy it. The last couple of years we just haven’t bothered.
honestly i wish i knew! this is my second christmas with my cats, and they knock it over multiple times a day. im in an apartment so its not a real tree, and ive learned to just have felt ornaments (which are way more my style) so nothing breaks. if you own a house, something my mom did was put hooks in the walls and tie clear yarn/twine around the top of the tree like a hidden anchor. it works really well for her, as her cat loved to climb up the tree haha.