Keeping cat off the Christmas tree.

[Crunchymum]

It went up a few hours ago and the furry little fucker has had it down three time already.

It's a fake one (its crap. I hate it but that's another thread) We'll be getting our main tree next weekend.

How do I keep a one year old insanely deviant cat off of the Xmas tree?

Bless you for thinking you can keep them out
Just secure it to the wall, we have some plastic strip things for securing furniture for toddlers etc.

Don't hang it from the ceiling if you have a determined cat. Dc had flimsy 4' trees in their room one year, we hung them from the (high) ceilings after they were repeatedly destroyed. One dcat realised they could make it with a flying leap from a wardrobe. This was amusing until the less graceful cat tried it at 2am with such force they pulled it out and landed 6' away, still clutching the tree on a no longer asleep dd.

I saw somewhere putting foil around the bottom stops cats

First Christmas with 2 cats, one being a kitten still.. DEFINITELY trying some of these! If that fails I'll be Scrooge and wave bye-bye to the tree this year!

I put a length of tinsel round ours and attached it to the wall with drawing pins . It did the trick and they got bored with it .

@winnieanddaisy

I put a length of tinsel round ours and attached it to the wall with drawing pins . It did the trick and they got bored with it .

ingested tinsel will kill a cat, please take it off.

@TheLovleyChebbyMcGee

We tape ours to either the coffee table or a weighted box. It hopefully works for toddlers too!

Tape the cats to the coffee table ?? One way of doing it! I’m all for taping toddlers too- always fancied a Velcro wall that I could just stick them to and have 5 minutes for a cuppa in peace.

We always spray the tree with some citrusy stuff and that keeps him away, but also attach it to the ceiling with a hook that stays there all year round. So if he ever decided to launch himself at it, the whole thing would probably stay upright. Fortunately the lemony smell keeps him away. As a last measure most of our baubles are pretty unbreakable (hand painted papier mache).

In my experience, it’s not possible. As a previous poster said ‘cat’s do what the hell they like’ LOL! Now that my DC. Are adults with their own homes and it’s just me and DH, I have just a small tree with small baubles and we actually enjoy watching our cheeky Siamese cats getting up to festive mischief!

We switched the vacuum on every time our kitten climbed the tree which made him bolt for the flap.

I believe the thing that had most difference (unfortunately) was becoming an older cat! So if you can hold out 8 years or so…

Our cat didn't pay much attention to the tree until last year... she's 7

We now can't have material baubles or feathers or fluffy pom-poms or tinsel

The rest she seems to leave alone

We happen to have a glass bell tree dec which jingles if she's touching the tree so we can shoo her away

@internetio. I swear your two are the siblings of mine! You’re not in the Salisbury area are you?

[quote wiltonian]@internetio. I swear your two are the siblings of mine! You’re not in the Salisbury area are you?[/quote]
Deepest darkest Wales I’m afraid! Yours are gorgeous!

@Internetio so are yours！and ours sleep all piled up like that too

Wondering if any of these work for babies/toddlers

Cats in the tree is all part of the fun! Just use decorations that won't break.

Mine are old now and don't bother with the tree and I miss the fun.

We spray with water when he goes near and he leaves it alone now. I've seen people laying tin foil all around the base of the tree too which is meant to be a deterrent

When I had a cat we would tie something around the top and secure it to the wall.

I find stopping access to the trunk works, so either a good tree skirt (recommend a wicker JL one) or a pile of presents.
It doesn’t stop them from pinging off the decorations though.

🤷‍♀️

LOL you will have to allow them to do what they want, or keep guard all day long!
I think they eventually lose interest.
Securing the tree is the best option.

Our first cats weren't too fussed with either a fake or real tree. Current cat has attempted to climb/tap baubles every single year. She seems to think we can't see or hear her ...

You can get "scentsicles" (Amazon) which hang up in the tree and make your entire house smell like a pine scented school toilet block. They work to keep our cats off. However they also repel humans and I can only keep them up for a day or so before giving in.

Cat seems to be getting used to it. He now lives under the tree and pops out to randomly attack us, if we get too close.

He only pulled the tree down once today, which is good progress.

Honestly I have 3 children (middle one is an utter demon as well) and this cat has caused me more tree aggro in 3 days than the kids / dearly loved but now departed girl cat we had for 12 years, ever did.