Solving the Xmas tree and cat problem

[packman]

[GoCubsGo]

1. I have tried the last method.

It does not work, unless the vacuum cleaners are on and making noise.

[dewsgirl]

2. Yep been there.

[catrose]

29. Vacuum cleaners playing along with the carols should be nice.

[TygrBright]

36. Motion detectors. n/t

[hlthe2b]

3. Funny. That cat IS going to get those hanging ornaments, though!

That's one big temptation...

[Srkdqltr]

5. I love the hanging ornaments.

[catrose]

28. Me too. But they are toast. Or slivers, anyway.

[Srkdqltr]

4. I have had cats. I can't stop laughing.

We used to tie the treetop to the drape rod holders. Used ribbon with tinsel to make it look like it was part of the decor.

[Kali]

27. I just use baling wire

it barely shows. have used ordinary kitchen twine too.

[Marthe48]

6. lol

We had some enthusiastic young cats one year who climbed the tree and knocked it down. They thought that was a lot of fun, so they would try again and again. My husband pounded a nail into the wall under the front window, and tied a piece of twine around the trunk and to the nail. It wasn't real visible, and it worked.

[fleur-de-lisa]

7. Good ideas, but a determined cat could destroy any one of these

with the possible exception of the shower tree.

When I was a kid, we had a cat who would start at the end of the hallway and make a mad dash to the tree and then race to the top.

I had a cat who would crawl up the inside of the tree until he made it to the top.

They are wily little boogers.

[liberalla]

8. I like the vacuums standing guard!

[Ligyron]

24. It would never work but the visual is perfect.

One gets the humor immediately unless they've never, ever had a cat or dog.

In which case they probably have no sense of humor anyway.

[jpak]

9. When I was young, we had a litter of 6 week-old kittens at Christmas time

They *all* climbed the tree at the same time.

The tree went down and 5 wide-eyed kittens shot out of it and ran out of he room just as fast as they could go.



We tied the tree to the wall after that - and kept the kittens out of the room.

[DinahMoeHum]

10. Love that glare and the crossed front paws in picture no. 5

[tblue37]

11. Hahahaha!

[highplainsdem]

12. I once had a cat whose only reaction to a decorated tree was to lie under it watching the lights

and occasionally batting lightly at an ornament.

With the last two cats, I gave up on Christmas trees.

And if you think a Christmas tree and cats can be problematic, try adding a parrot...

[iluvtennis]

13. Love it! Thanks for my tear invoking giggle for the day. nt

[PatrickforO]

14. How fun! This is a very real problem. We had it this year.

Our solution was a three foot chicken wire barrier around the base of the tree. Very attractive!

[Niagara]

15. Our tree

This is our 3 foot, flat back or sometimes called half wall Christmas tree.

Our female cat likes to chew on the artificial pine on Christmas trees and eventually gets sick after ingesting the pines. So, this is our solution at the moment.





This is last year's photo.

[Canoe52]

16. Loved the tree in the shower, they must have tried the other solutions first.

[Mersky]

20. OIC. Bwah! And curly ears is still determined to get that tree.

[maddiemom]

42. It might not work with a Turkish Angora.

[turbinetree]

17. I like the first one, that is brilliant...................

[BirdandSquirrel]

18. Imagine If You Will

The difficulties incurred when having a Holiday Tree while having a pet Squirrel? My 6 words that are permanently burned into my brain:

"Squirt, get out of the tree."

Squirt being my 8 year old pet Squirrel.

[murielm99]

19. The vacuum cleaner one actually worked here,

when our kitty was still alive.

I shouldn't have worried that much. She liked to perch in a lower branch and stay there. She never knocked the tree over.

I like the tabby cat in front of the blanket draped tree. Such a feline stink-eye he is giving us!

[Shrike47]

21. When our boys were kittens I hand-made all the ornaments out of non-breakable material.

We had sea shells, pine cones, wooden acorns, and paper, all painted and fancied up. They never try to climb it, thank goodness, but knocking off dangling objects continues to be an issue.

[lark]

22. LOL, I used the solution in the 2nd pix.

As my cats got older, the decoration line moved down. Even now that they are old, I don't decorate the bottom of the tree with anything hanging down, they will inevitably walk under it and knock it loose. Now with a new cat, the line has moved up once again.

[Freddie]

23. Or toddlers

My 13-month old granddaughter had her first full-blown temper tantrum over the Christmas tree and not being able to reach over the baby gate. Pets could care less.

[Ligyron]

25. What ours did to the presents under it was worse.

No real surprises for the kids that year.

Although we always suspected that after the first example of kitty claws unwrapping a few, it may well have been repeated by our progeny instead.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

26. ROFL!!! My hubby and I both howled at these.

[procon]

30. Thanks! Every photo made me laugh even more.

Been there, done that, as anyone who has cats can agree. I commiserate with all those creative solutions, but the only real fix is to surrender to the whims of our relentless overlords and give the cats the damn tree.

I sometimes resorted to putting up two trees, the gorgeous fresh fir on display in the living room was to impress guests. A second version in the family room to entertain the cats, who in turn also entertained us.

The second tree was a bedraggled fake with built in lights that was quick to put up and attach to a length of fishing line from a ceiling beam so it couldn't be toppled. No breakable decorations was the rule, so I collected and made cute handmade ornaments, paper Santa Claus and colorful felt nutcrackers. I made clothes pin reindeer, stockings stuffed with nom goodies for man and beast. I added candy canes and painted wooden ginger bread men and toys, and lots of little bells for noise. I crocheted some stars and snowflakes... Who put catnip on those!

The cats had a blast as they wreaked the tree every night, it was better than TV, and no stress as they made us laugh. In the morning we had even more fun redecorating the tree with the help of three happy cats.

[Stuart G]

31. As funny as a post gets...thank you...

[Stuart G]

32. I like number 5 the best...look at that...."cat look"

[SterlingPound]

33. Funny thread thanks for the laugh

[alfredo]

34. A water pistol did a great job of training our cat.

Just don’t let her see you squirting her.
Cats can be vindictive.

[TygrBright]

35. Hope those vacuums have motion detectors on their "on" switches...! n/t

[pansypoo53219]

37. all my cats declawed. the 1st 2 just ate tinsel, so we stopped that.

2nd pair killed some balls, but wanted to drink tree gin more. 3rd pair saw limited tree + did not attack.

[zanana1]

43. I hope you weren't the one that got them declawed.

It's cruel.

[Rebl2]

38. Love the

last one! My cat runs and hides under the couch when I get the vacuum out even if it’s not on! I used to have a cat that would try to bite the cord when I would vacuum. Trying to kill the darn noise maker I suppose. I miss Zephyr and no he didn’t die from biting the vacuum cord.

[joshdawg]

39. Best way is just to not have a tree.

Yeah, yeah, I've been called Scrooge before.

[wnylib]

40. Mine only climbed the tree once, the first year

I had her, when she was just 3 months old. And that wasn't until the day I took it down. After all the times I said "no-no" while moving her away from the tree, I guess she decided to join the fun when I was the one messing around with it.

I was carefully taking down ornaments in a specific order to get them back in the right boxes. When I leaned into the tree for one near the top, I came face to face with kitty as she knocked it down from inside the tree.. How thoughtful of her to help.

When I first put it up, she kept diving into the boxes and dragging things out, so I gave her an ornament to play with that she couldn't. hurt -- a small, gold colored metal bell that had a tiny clapper inside. When she discovered that it made noise, she pranced around the room with it in her mouth, shaking her head to make it ring. Left me free to finish the tree.

[Sherman A1]

41. I have it solved

No Cat.

Hence no problem with the tree 🌲.

[mysteryowl]

44. HILARIOUS!!!

[MontanaMama]

45. Oh I miss having a kitteh

at Christmas. Louis would never bother ornaments but would always burrow under the tree skirt even if he had to rearrange gifts to do it. I plan to leave a gap in the skirt when I decorate this year so he can find his way under it in spirit.

[area51]

46. lmao. n/t

[TomVilmer]

47. [Insert cat]