Cat and Christmas Tree

[TuesdayNameChangeArama]

We have a newish, youngish cat (she's just over a year old, was rescued as a stray 5 month old so has a touch of the wild about her, and has been with us for six weeks).

She is a classic teenage cat (very friendly, very confident, as I said; wild) - and isn't going outside yet (will do in a couple more weeks).

We usually have two Christmas trees, this year, we're limiting it to one (because: cat), and we're using our old fake tree as a test run.

How would you keep a young, climby, scratchy, bitey cat from scaling, scratching, and biting the (fake) tree?

We've never has a problem with cats and our tree. One of our first ones got pricked on the nose by a pine needle, after that she didn't go near it and nor did any of the others. Except for one who drunk the tree water and would then sleep under the tree, one year we didn't see him and covered him in presents

Last year the bloody boy cat knocked every blooming bauble off the tree. We couldn't keep putting them back up so lived with a very green tree with some tinsel on it 🫣

She's a beautiful girl.

I think you put the tree up and see what happens. The first year when we had first couple of kittens, we left the tree up but gave up on the decorations. After that they were both ok and left it alone.

We got two rescues (young cats) six years ago. One has never shown interest in the tree, the other loves playing with it so we usually end up with the bottom layer of tinsel and baubles taken off. I'm sure he only does it to get attention as he looks at us first before he starts. The cat flap is at the far end of the room so he has access to tree while we're sleeping and never touches it.

She's lovely DanceWithYourBalloon

Ours doesn't go in the tree at all, but he does like to chew the (plastic) branches. Then we had a brainwave of drying out some slices of oranges and stringing them around the lowest branches and after a little sniff he kept well away from it last year! So I'll be doing that again this year.

Is it just me who thinks that Christmas trees look much better with a furry face lurking halfway up?

(I'm away for Christmas and don't get a tree, so don't have to face this issue.)

We used to put mini chime Christmas decorations around the base of the tree to warn us when the cats were messing with it. They never climbed the tree but used to like batting the baubles off.
Our last cat died 3 years ago now and we still put up the chimes and remember their naughtiness!

Don't be taken in by that serene little face and the random little ginger toe .

She is PLOTTING , waiting till you fill the tree with baubles and smugly think "My cat doesn't worry about decorations ...."
She'll be in there wreaking havoc

My cat was 11 months last year and pulled the tree over three times.

This year, she sits next to it and bats the branches while staring at me, or hides underneath it and pounces at me when I walk by. I have accepted that it’s her tree now.

@BlunderMifflin how did you dry your oranges?

I sliced them fairly thinly and spread them on a baking tray then put them in the oven on a low heat (I can't remember the temp...maybe 100?) until they were almost dried out but not quite. Left them to cool then strung them at intervals on a long piece of string. I didn't want them completely dried out in case they didn't smell strongly enough, but they were ALMOST completely dried out. Worked like a charm!

I'll give it a go! Maybe boy kitten will keep his distance! (He's been better today...only dislodged one branch & no baubles rolling around the floor 🤣)

@70isaLimitNotaTarget
You were right. 24hrs in and she's starting her bauble destruction.
Never trust a cat! 😂🎄

Never trust a cat indeed

Well, the orange slices have done nothing to deter my furry friends 🙄. They look pretty though!