Any Cat Owners ?

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

Caporegime
Joined
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West Yorks
what do you do with your cat around christmas time ?

we've got a 3 month old kitten who is determined to use our christmas tree as a climbing frame. Shes pulled it over on herself twice already and is trying to eat various parts of the tree as she does it.

We've had to resort to either locking her out of the lounge and in the dinning room / kitchen area on a night or moving her food / litter tray upstairs and locking her upstairs all night.

I feel really guilty for doing it, but if she starts eating the tree while we're asleep she could really hurt herself.

We've tryed just removing her and telling her no (trying to use the same tone of voice everytime shes naughty so she understand that loud agressive voices means no), but not getting anywhere.

Suggestions anybody ?
 
water pistols worked well when our cats were kittens, they soon get the message and dont do it again.
alternatively you could spray something on the tree so it taste and smells foul to her.
 
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try making a cone for the base of the tree if she is getting up that way.

Get a couple of 2 litre round coke bottles, cut them up and glue/tape into a cone around the base of the tree. It'll be too slippy for the kitten to climb.

I've always found making a really loud hissing sound is enough to discourage our cat though, although he does have a habit of trying to swap baubles with his missing leg :D
 
While your asleep, If you want complete peace of mind. I would recommend purchasing a large cage for her that gives them enough space inside for bed, litter tray, water and food bowls. It sounds harsh, but it's probably the only practical thing you can do. Simply being stern with your kitten (especially with it being quite young) may not be enough.

Don't do this for long though, since locking them up does them no good in the long run (obviously):P, and along with you being strict with the cat and calling her by name and each time she tries to bite/climb the tree move her away out of sight of it until she's disciplined and will understand that doing it will get her moved.

When you need to lock her out of the xmas tree area when it's during the day and you can't monitor her then simply close the doors to it.

Keep her in there at night and let her out during the day and when you can monitor her. Maybe move the cage closer to your sleeping area so you can keep a watch on her to make sure she's alright in there. We are doing this with our two kittens (a brother and a sister) until we feel they are old enough to be let outside. It also allows them to get a feel of a area of safety and get a sense of home boundries.

Again, the cage suggestion sounds harsh.. but you will be able to provide your kitten a safe, protected, and comfortable area where she can sleep/wait for the morning then she can be released. You shouldn't feel guilty about this because it's all for the benefit of her. It won't take long for her to grow out of the habit of climbing objects.
 
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Lock her away/shut the tree away overnight to be on the safe side. My cat (when he was a kitten) ate glass baubles off our tree. Yes, he is incredibly stupid, but it's better to be safe by shutting them away than sorry. My cats are shut in the kitchen every night. They don't fuss at all, and just go to their respective sleeping spots until morning.

You could buy a mahoosive scratching post/activity center, but a Christmas tree is 1,000,000 times more fun to cats.
 
another thing you could do would be to place oranges and lemons in the tree and rub orange/lemon juice on the lower trunk/branches as cats are supposed to hate the smell.
 
Water Pistol/Spray Gun would be the best bet. The kitty will soon get the idea, we did that with our 5 year old cat when we first got him and he learnt in a few days. Best to keep him locked out of the room at night though.

You'll inevitably get a few bobbles ending up on the floor - but that's part of the charm of having a pet!
 
Remove any fairy lights from tree.
Make sure tree is secure is base and cannot be knocked over.
Let cat play in tree.

Thats what i'v always done.
It's only going to be for a couple of weeks and they love climbing trees and knocking the baubles off so let her have some fun - Its Christmas after all :D
 
Ahleckz said:
Water Pistol/Spray Gun would be the best bet. The kitty will soon get the idea, we did that with our 5 year old cat when we first got him and he learnt in a few days. Best to keep him locked out of the room at night though.

You'll inevitably get a few bobbles ending up on the floor - but that's part of the charm of having a pet!
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This.

Worked with our last 18 month old rescue cat.
 
I'm dreading putting mine up:( My kitten is about the same age as yours, I don't think there's much you can do but lock her in a separate room when your sleeping.

Mine torn the curtains down last week:

080107_130547.jpg
 
MrLOL said:
what do you do with your cat around christmas time ?

we've got a 3 month old kitten who is determined to use our christmas tree as a climbing frame. Shes pulled it over on herself twice already and is trying to eat various parts of the tree as she does it.

We've had to resort to either locking her out of the lounge and in the dinning room / kitchen area on a night or moving her food / litter tray upstairs and locking her upstairs all night.

I feel really guilty for doing it, but if she starts eating the tree while we're asleep she could really hurt herself.

We've tryed just removing her and telling her no (trying to use the same tone of voice everytime shes naughty so she understand that loud agressive voices means no), but not getting anywhere.

Suggestions anybody ?
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M8.. just let her play its curiosity more than anything. My kittens are the same after a short while they will move on to play with other things. Don't shout or raise your voice it will only stress them, they are only kittens and are keen to explore :)
Moving the litter tray is not really a good idea as they have to get used to going to the toilet in the same place all the time, moving it around will only confuse where they go.
Hope I have been of some help :D post some pics of your kitten she sounds really cute.
 
Christmas trees tend to smell a lot like cat litter. At least the stuff we used for our cat years ago was pine scented. Don't know if that makes our cat posh or not! :p

There is nothing wrong with keeping her out of the front room at night. Cats are happy to sleep anywhere, really, as long as it is warm and comfy. It's not like she will resent you or anything.

During the day just go for the ole water pistol deterrent as suggested. Use a firm voice too. She will learn. Eventually. :p
 
I've got six. Two oldies, two youngies and two kittens. I just let them get on with it and if they are up around the tree just put them back on the floor and keep them occupied with something else :) And if they do pull it over in the night, it'll just get put back up in the morning. I've not long get back home to find a vase of fake flowers over in the front room :D
 
Sharpsilver said:
While your asleep, If you want complete peace of mind. I would recommend purchasing a large cage for her that gives them enough space inside for bed, litter tray, water and food bowls. It sounds harsh, but it's probably the only practical thing you can do. Simply being stern with your kitten (especially with it being quite young) may not be enough.
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This is essentially what we're doing

We're lucky that our Dinning room / kitchen area has a set of folding double doors that we can close to lock her in.

She's got a radiator in there, so is nice and warm. And her food / water and litter tray are in the kitchen. She's got a nice comfy bed and a blanket on one of the dinning room chairs where she likes to sleep.

Shes fine, and safe away from the tree, but i feel terribly guilty for locking her up effectively. Shes normally running about all over the house and it makes us feel so guilty.

Shes allowed out during the day, and we just remove her from the tree when she starts eating it.

But its at night that she needs to be locked up when we cant monitor what she's doing.

touch said:
Remove any fairy lights from tree.
Make sure tree is secure is base and cannot be knocked over.
Let cat play in tree.

Thats what i'v always done.
It's only going to be for a couple of weeks and they love climbing trees and knocking the baubles off so let her have some fun - Its Christmas after all :D
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her knocking the tree over isnt my concern

Its the fact she keeps trying to eat the fake needles of the tree, and trying to eat the baubles etc..
Eating a broken glass bauble will make her really poorly so i just cant chance leaving her unattended at night. She doesnt go more than about 10/15 minutes without trying.
 
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I feel your pain, i have a siamese, cant tell her anything, always seems like im getting the 2 finger salute. In regards to the xmas tree we got quite lucky, she climbed it afew times and we allowed it as we hadnt decorated it yet, it fell over, she got scared, now she dosent climb it, just bats stuff off it.
In my experiance you cant stop a cats curiosity you need to fulfill it and then they will find something else
With the decoration issue, you might have to change them, thats 1 lesson you cant afford for them to learn the hard way really
 
Get a better stand or make your cat lose weight. My cat was fine climbing trees a few years ago, he was fully grown.
As long as it's a real tree I shouldn't think your cat could hurt itself eating it.

Or just lock it in a seperate room at night (definitely do this when you put presents out, kittens love to tear them open)
 
Attach a car battery to any metallic tinsel. Remember you have done this when going for tree chocolates.
 
Get one of the cat jungle gym/scratch pole things from any decent pet store
Buy Catnip spray
Spray gym/pole with catnip
Buy some behavior spray
Spray Xmas tree in behavior spray
???????
Profit!
 
I get around said:
Get a better stand or make your cat lose weight. My cat was fine climbing trees a few years ago, he was fully grown.
As long as it's a real tree I shouldn't think your cat could hurt itself eating it.

Or just lock it in a seperate room at night (definitely do this when you put presents out, kittens love to tear them open)
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thats just it

its not a real tree, its a plastic fake one.

Will have to continue to lock her in the dinning room / kitchen i think.
 
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