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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

Top tips for Christmas trees with cats

36 replies

Stokey · 09/12/2020 11:36

Hi wise MNetters,

It's our first Christmas with cats - well 10 month old kittens.

We're getting our tree this weekend, what should I expect? Will they destroy it? Any top tips? We normally have quite a tall one.

OP posts:

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dementedpixie · 09/12/2020 11:38

My cats have never shown much interest in the tree (we have an artificial one). One sleeps under it.

Santaisironingwrappingpaper · 09/12/2020 11:42

My dd was in the same situation.. Kept her vacuum cleaner beside the tree the first day. Every time the dkittens went near the tree she switched it on!! Worked a bloody treat!!

Allergictoironing · 09/12/2020 11:54

Reading the "real tree vs fake tree" thread, general view seems to be that mostly cats DO like climbing real trees, and much less so fake ones.

Important points are to not hang anything breakable from lower branches (or at all if possible) , and to avoid tinsel and lametta. Don't hang chocolate decs either, as these are toxic to cats. If the cats DO start to climb, or look interested in the tree, you may want to look into ways of attaching it to the wall (or ceiling).

dementedpixie · 09/12/2020 12:12

My tree has tinsel but not a lot. I've not put baubles down too low in case the cats play with them

TreestumpsAndTrampolines · 09/12/2020 12:14

Our cats mainly see it as a new water dish... occasional batting of a bauble, but otherwise leave it alone - same even when they were kittens.

I imagine they could do some damage to it when they're having a mad half-hour, but so far so good.

gingercat02 · 09/12/2020 12:16

Mine have never bothered (1 is 18yo 2 are only 2yo) they do occasionally bat a low down bauble but thats it!

FatCatThinCat · 09/12/2020 12:17

My cat never leaves the feckin tree alone. It starts off looking beautifully decorated but every morning re-assemble gets less and less careful. By Christmas it'll look like the decorations just got thrown at it. Because they will have been.

I try not to stress about it. The cat just loves the Christmas tree and it's his Christmas too. He just wants to celebrate it by destroying plastic robins.

ClareWilsonNS · 09/12/2020 12:19

I had been dreading this as a new cat owner too, with some people implying we shouldn't have a tree at all this year. But we put one up (a real one) and my 3-year-old quite playful cat has shown very little interest. Batted a bauble a couple of times then wandered away. So far, anyway - tree been up five days now. I'm glad we went for it.

Aquamarine1029 · 09/12/2020 12:20

I would not use tinsel because it is extremely dangerous to cats if ingested. I would also anchor your tree to the wall with a hook and fishing line, from the middle of the tree so it's not visible. We have 5 cats currently, and have always had at least 3. Invariably one will fancy a climb, and the anchor prevents the tree from falling over. I learned the need for this the hard way many years ago, and I lost several special ornaments.

FatCatThinCat · 09/12/2020 12:20

He didn't even wait for DS to finish putting the decorations on the tree before he started destroying it.

TreestumpsAndTrampolines · 09/12/2020 12:23

Thinking about it, it's weird, because out of the house ours are regularly found sitting in the leylandii. Perhaps it's the flashing lights or something putting them off the tree inside the house.

tpmumtobe · 09/12/2020 12:31

We hang fresh lemon slices around the bottom of ours (on bauble hooks). Cats don't like citrus so it puts him off climbing, plus it looks quite pretty!

InTheLongGrass · 09/12/2020 12:39

Last year, 8 month old kitten was generally found in the tree, or knocking the baubles off it.
This year, she is still loving g the decorations, but has grown too much to be climbing. Shes tried a couple of times, but not got more than 2 paws in. She is spending a lot of time sleeping under the tree.

I'd say try it, but dont put anything sentimental or fragile on until you see how they react.

CoronaCurls · 09/12/2020 12:40

My DD has a new kitten and she sprayed her tree with orange oil and so far kitten has stayed away.

Allergictoironing · 09/12/2020 13:21

Cats don't like citrus

Um tell that to my DBro's cat (now sadly long gone), who's favorite treat was Lemon Drizzle Cake!

SushiGo · 09/12/2020 13:26

Ours 8mo kitten has completely ignored both trees. We shut him out when we decorated, and did a bit at a time.

We didn't put any glass decorations up either!

IsFinnRogersDead · 09/12/2020 14:37

We have some pine tree scent things which keep them away. Scentscicles, search on amazon for Christmas tree scent sticks and there's loads.

Original poster

Stokey · 09/12/2020 15:01

Love that photo @FatCatThinCat. & LOL at the lemon drizzle loving cat. We are going real so will tentatively decorate leaving breakable baubles off to start with and see how they go. Also like the lemon trick but not sure what they're feelings are about citrus.

OP posts:

Oldraver · 09/12/2020 15:11

I have no advice, I'm abandoning mine this year

EachandEveryone · 09/12/2020 17:31

Mine have never bothered with it. The only thing Daphne might do when she walks by is crunch a light i have no idea what the appeal of that is.

Bamaluz · 09/12/2020 17:40

Mine used to climb it every year, I knew when he was middle aged when he didn't one year.
I use unbreakable baubles on lower branches, because he still likes batting them off, and hang a couple of decorative bells on a couple of branches to warn me if he's getting too boisterous with it.

Mumdiva99 · 10/12/2020 00:27

We put our decorations on the tree today and the cats have loved hitting them off and chasing them across the room. I'm already regretting putting it up!! Hopefully they will get bored of it.

TheLongRider · 10/12/2020 08:10

On Tuesday we put our real tree in its stand and our two youngest cats chased each other up and down it. Yesterday we decorated the tree and apart from batting an odd (plastic) bauble down the cats have ignored the tree.

There is hope.

Oldraver · 11/12/2020 09:52

I may have a go at re righting the tree at the weekend

Toilenstripes · 11/12/2020 09:56

I put a few cheap baubles on lower branches that she can knock off and then she doesn’t bother with the rest of the tree, except for using it as a place to hide and jump out at us. 😻

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