Kittens and Christmas trees.

[Pixel]

Does having a new kitten mean I will have to put up with our moth-eaten artificial tree dragged out of the garage, or can I risk having a real one? I adore real trees, it's one of my favourite parts of Christmas but I don't want to risk little'un getting hurt. What do you think?

No, the tree will be the one hurt!

We had a real tree with several kittens in the house.

Our kitten (now cat) totally wrecked the bottom half of our (real) xmas tree last year ... in the end it had lights and baubles only from the top to half way down.

We had a real tree when our cats were kittens. They didn't do too much damage.

We swapped all our glass baubles for plastic ones as they loved playing with them and we didn't want any accidents.

I knew a lady who used to take her christmas tree into her bedroom every night for the duration because her cat demolished it if she didn't.

I remember reading somewhere that if you cut orange segmants and put them round the base of the tree, cats will stay away from it.
Don't know if it works

segments not segmants though (obviously)

I can post photos of various kittens climbing the christmas tree if you like

have also had the same experience as ghosty

and it's not much better when they're a middle-aged cat

when our cat was a kitten we had a real tree but quite a small one and we put it up on a table.

Now we have a big one as she is too fat and lazy to climb up anything

We have a kitten too, he will (on past experience) spend the season perched on the tree and turning baubles into cat toys and generally grightening the atmosphere hugely!

Hi, sorry I didn't get back sooner, I've been celebrating my birthday! Thanks for all the replies. So, it seems that the kitten might demolish the tree but none of you have reported pine needles stuck in paws or being eaten which were two possibilities that were worrying me. I thought he might get poisoned but I suppose that is just as likely with the artificial tree.

I had heard the thing about cats not liking oranges but ours seems to enjoy playing with satsuma peel so I don't think it applies in this case .

Happy Birthday!

One thing I'd avoid is fake trees with articial snow, as my aprents mog used to eat theirs. She never got ill but she was wicked and indestructible.

My cat used to sleep in my parents christmas tree. It always had a big empty patch where the cat had been.

my cat has never climbed or damaged the Christmas tree. Pawed a few baubles, that's it.

Clever cat

Pointy - are you sure it's a cat and not a dog? Does it bark?

Ho ho! I know my kind. And this is cat.

Do you mean to say none of you has got your cat into a routine yet?

Not heard of the controlled scratching method?

Or spray the cat 25 times and it will then stop forever?

Actually my cat comes when I call(both do) and knows bedtime

(never been able to preen on MN before LOL)