What is it with cats and Christmas trees?

[Guest]

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[Darkniciad]

Cats may as well have ornament hooks attached to them the moment the tree goes up. I need to get that picture from my sister of her tree from a few years back. Garland and lights all hanging akimbo, ornaments scattered all over the floor, and three sets of wide, surprised, glowing eyes staring out from amidst the branches.

She had to put the gifts in the closet a couple of years before that, because 8-ball kept tearing the paper off anything under the tree in the night if she left them there.

The sound-activated Santa scares the bejesus out of all of them, though. You can't help but laugh when you snap your fingers near the thing and all three cats blow up into arch-backed puff-balls before fleeing for their lives from the jolly old elf's merry laughter.

 

[Guest]

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[SexJunkie23]

That's cute, my cat would never just sit by the tree; rather, she would be ripping it apart. We have to keep the two in separate rooms.

 

[Darkniciad]

As soon as we discovered the effect of Santa, my sister put him right under the tree. None of the cats will come within five feet of the thing now. 8-ball starts growling as soon as she pulls the thing out of the box. He used to attack it, but finally figured out that it provoked the bearded demon.

He's not the brightest cat in the world. We have video of him running around the house full tilt with his head stuck in the handle hole of a twelve-pack box, bouncing off walls and furniture. Took us forever to catch him.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

My guess is that there's something in the "pine leaves" that's like synthetic catnip. Or maybe it's just a big new jungle gym for him to play in and act out his fantasies of being a feral member of the cat family like his larger, more dangerous brethren out in the veldt.

 

[3113]

You can't fight kitty nature. It's in their nature to climb trees, to use them to gaze out in search of prey, and to drag prey they've killed up into the branches where they can feast on it without being driven off by other hungry animals, where they can guard it, and nap undisturbed by ground animals that might try to eat them if they were sleeping elsewhere.

Be happy, however, that your cat is only climbing the tree. My cat used to drink the water and eat the pine needles. Needless to say, she threw it all back up. Then went right back to eat more. We had a hell of a time keeping her from doing that. We haven't had a tree in years, but if we were to get one, it'd be fake so that we wouldn't have to worry about kitty eating or drinking all that toxic stuff.

 

[Guest]

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[rgraham666]

Cute pics.

It's been so long since I've had a tree I can't even remember how I decorated it.

 

[Liar]

They're shiny. That's what. Cats and magpies. One has wings.

 

[AchtungNight]

Beware! Kringus has returned! (Check out www.pvponline.com if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

 

[SlickTony]

A few things that might help:

1. A swag lamp hook in the ceiling. If you're worried about the cat climbing the tree, anchor the tree to the ceiling with something unobtrusive, like wire.
2. Put the fragile ornaments highest up. Put the durable, tough ones, like the wooden ones and the large jingle bells, on the bottom--if the cat bats them off, it's not that big a deal.
3. The older they get, the less this will be a problem.
4. Beware of gifts with enticing smells. We had a bag of Jamaican coffee we had to put in the pantry because the bad red cat kept trying to open it.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I do so much appreciate not having a cat around any more . . .

 

[TE999]

We haven't used tinsel since the first year we were married.

Why do cats always eat it?

It does make the litter box rather festive, tho.

One male cat we had loved to eat tinsel...then he'd run around the house with it trailing out of his butt...I laughed every time he did it...all he needed was a 'Just Married' sign and some tin cans.

 

[glynndah]

Our cats totally devoured a rather large real poinsettia and a good number of silk ones, too.

 

[Tricialen]

Awww so adorable! I miss my cat...she was fourteen years old and I lost her..she loved to sit under the tree and swat at the danglings...I really miss her...just enjoy....

 

[freshface]

It does make the litter box rather festive, tho.

One male cat we had loved to eat tinsel...then he'd run around the house with it trailing out of his butt...I laughed every time he did it...all he needed was a 'Just Married' sign and some tin cans.

You're lucky none of it got stuck in his innards.

 

[neonlyte]

The cat, Capella, talks.

He's reached middle-age but behaves like a teenager. Recently, he's started answering back. I'll video this and post it. When's he's told to get off a surface where he's not allowed to sit, he snarls like a teenager, and mews with his jaw shaking as if he's imitating human speech No Christmas tree indoors this year, we'll light the tree in the front yard this week-end and see if he has the temerity to climb it.

 

[Guest]

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[Svenskaflicka]

My cats find my home-made ornaments and tear them to pieces. I tried to put the ornaments away on top of th shelf above the stove, but the very next evening, the ornaments were on the floor, ruffled up and slightly damp. Big mystery.

I dare not have any plants like pointsettia or hyacinth in my home, because I've heard that they're bad for cats' health, and my cats eat any plant they can find. Emil, the male, has even tried chewing on my plastic plants!

 

[Misty_Morning]

Never had much of a problem with CC and Xmas trees (when she was younger I used to be totally obnoxious about holidays). When she was a kitten she would bat at the ornaments that were placed low on the tree. But mostly she just sat and watched the lights twinkle.

BUT...when I was a kid we had some unusual pets. One of them was a spider monkey. And yes, we had the most horrible looking trees for several years till we decided to give him to a lady that could provide better living arrangements.

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

My cat used to try and pull our tree down by grabbing lower branches in his teeth- obviously didnt get him far, but he'd always hide behind it and pull off the fluffy stuff we use instead of tinsel. Our tree was fake so i dont know about the catnip like stuff. Also, as for gifts, there were always claw marks on the corners he was such a boisterous little baby.

 

[Nirvanadragones]

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm57/vanalafayette/cat3.jpg

Meet Lily.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm57/vanalafayette/cat2.jpg

And her brother Aslan.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

My grandparents have erected a decorative looking gate around their tree to keep the cat out. It's kind of like a homemade baby gate with garland on it. It's kind of like if Fort Knox decided to decorate to make things look less menacing.

 

[freshface]

So do they have a tag team approach? Lily removes them and Aslan inspects them for suspicious behavior? And they say cats can't cooperate.