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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
So, cats and Xmas tree?
I'm a bit worried about our two cats and the tree! Do we just assume it's going to be a mess, broken ornaments, etc? Or do cats not like the pokey tree?
We'll probably set it all up this weekend.
Re: So, cats and Xmas tree?
We've only had a Christmas tree once but our cat didn't do anything with it - only stared at it (really cute, BTW). He didn't go after ornaments, lights, branches - nuthin'. It was nice. Of course, who knows this year - he might decide that we put up the tree simply to be his newest toy. Cats are strange that way.
My sister's cats have used the fallen needles as a littler box and have gone as far as to move gifts to cover their "gift."
:::Our Adoption Journey:::
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cats and Christmas trees - ugh! They've always been a bad mix for me. I suppose it depends on the cat, my childhood cat would climb it (even though she didn't have claws). My current cat knocks ornaments off and eats branches and lights. We have the tree in our 4 season porch so we close the room off to her.
Our cats mostly ignore our Christmas tree when we have one. When our younger cat was a kitten, though, he DID destroy one ornament--it was a painted wood ornament, and he scratched all the paint off. BAD kitty. So if there are any particularly meaningful ornaments, or ones that might easily be destroyed by curious kitties, maybe place them further up on the tree.
We also used to catch our cats drinking the Christmas tree's water in the base of the stand. That hasn't been an issue now that I have a proper tree skirt that covers the water resevoir.
Sometimes our bunny nibbles on the lower branches...
This has been a battle for us the past 2 Christmases. Our first Christmas we had our 2 cats they were 4-5 month old kittens. So the first thing they did when we put up the tree was to climb it. The second year I thought "well maybe they'll find they're too big to fit between the branches and they'll stay out." Of course I was wrong. And of course now all my branches are drooping downwards from their weight. And the fur! Oh the fur! I had to vacuum my tree last year and I still found masses of white tufts of fur from our long haired cat. Not to mention the little green tree needles all over the house. Now this year I was SURE they would be too big (they're about 8-9 lbs now) and they'd be bored with it. But no. They stayed out of it while we were in the room, but as soon as we turned our backs for literally 2 minutes they were both up at the top of the tree, laying in the branches like they were in a hammock. I think the fact that the tree is pokey makes it all the better experience for them. Cats seem to be itchy by nature. Always rubbing against things and wanting to be scratched. So I think the tree just does the scratching for them when they aren't around.
I haven't found anything that keeps my cats out of the tree yet, but if we catch them they do get some squirts from the spray bottle. Although one of my cats seems to like it. She will sit at point blank range and take the spraying and lick up whatever water rolls off her. I can never win with those 2...
My 3 cats have never messed with our tree. My mom had a cat who liked to make a tunnel thru the tree from the floor to his spot on the back of the couch.
Some good safety tips:
NO tinsel!!!! It is a foreign body nightmare.
Keep the lights up a little from the bottom so there are no exciting hanging lights.
Try to keep them away from the water, there can be chemicals that leach into the water.
Make sure the ornaments are up high so they can't bat them off.
Make sure ornament hooks are attached the ornament well, cats will eat them.
You can spray the lower branches with bitter apple or a citrus spray (you can even put orange peels underneath) to deter them from the tree. Cats don't like citrus.
Good luck!
my read shelf:
We have an artificial tree, but my cats pretty much just ignore it. They really like to sleep on the tree skirt, but theyve never tried to climb it and only very occasionally bat at an ornament or two on the lower part of the tree.
A couple of years ago, though, we woke up and found a candy cane from the tree (downstairs) in our bedroom (upstairs). I still have no idea who the culprit was.
We've had our cats for 3 years. The first two they pulled the tree down - once each Christmas season. Last year they were really good and we had no trees on the floor.
They do play with the low hanging ornaments so we try to hang them higher so they're less likely to go after them.
our female cat climbs our artificial tree. She also bats off the ornaments and decides they are toys to play with. It's obnoxious. Our male cat pretty much ignores it. he might bat at the ornaments here and there but he doesnt climb the tree.
Here are a few examples
Isabelle halfway up the tree:
Wylie playing with the ornaments
I am sorry to say that I actually started giggling when I read this, only because my cats did the same thing. I know it isn't supposed to be funny, but our boy cat is a little bit of a tubby boy, so he has on more than one occasion actually knocked the whole tree over.His sister will just sit there and stare at him playing in the tree (that part I think is funny), then wait for him to bat down an ornament and she will take off with it..
This year we put the tree up on a table since it's only a four foot tree, and we only put lights on it...lets see if they attempt it this year....