Christmas Tree and Kittens

kimbyanne

I was perfectly happy not having a Christmas Tree this year because we recently got two kittens who are quite the little monsters at the moment. They love to climb, jump, swing from pretty much anything they can - they are now about six months old so are getting more adventurous by the day - we have had to move anything breakable as high as we possibly can (and it probably still isn't safe from them)

My boyfriend however wants a Christmas Tree, this is our first Christmas living together and he thinks it won't feel like Christmas without a tree. So, we now need to find a kitten safe tree - obviously artificial as I think real trees can be poisonous for cats?

Anyone have any ideas of what we can get? We won't be able to have anything breakable, chewable on the tree and nothing with fiber optics as I am pretty sure they will climb it, chew it, knock it over...

I was all for ceiling decorations...... much easier

picklepick

You may be surprised, my cats pay no attention to our tree whatsoever. They just like to sit under it. Occasionally, we might lose the odd bauble from a lower branch, but they just bat it about a bit, then lose interest.

What we do do though is tie the top to the wall/ceiling/curtain rail with fishing line/clear twine. Then if one does decide to go for a climb, it can't fall over.

kimbyanne

picklepick wrote: »

You may be surprised, my cats pay no attention to our tree whatsoever. They just like to sit under it. Occasionally, we might lose the odd bauble from a lower branch, but they just bat it about a bit, then lose interest.

What we do do though is tie the top to the wall/ceiling/curtain rail with fishing line/clear twine. Then if one does decide to go for a climb, it can't fall over.

Maybe - I just have visions of them climbing the tree or chewing the lights, etc - neither which are good for them!

At the moment, they are into climbing anything they can and chewing anything available - they may surprise me but I am doubtful.

Fishing line is a good tip though, at least if they do decide to climb it, it won't come crashing down.

scaredy_cat

kitten safe christmas tree - it doesn't exist!!

snozberry

My kitten was a nightmare. My poor tree was often at an angle, his head would be sticking out the the middle of it, I'd find decorations all over the house and, to my horror, I found tiny teeth marks on the cable for the lights when I finally admitted defeat and packed everything away.

He did grow out of it though. Eventually.

kimbyanne

snozberry wrote: »

My kitten was a nightmare. My poor tree was often at an angle, his head would be sticking out the the middle of it, I'd find decorations all over the house and, to my horror, I found tiny teeth marks on the cable for the lights when I finally admitted defeat and packed everything away.

He did grow out of it though. Eventually.

That is another problem, cables. I am going to try and convince my boyfriend that a tree is just not a good idea when they are still kittens, we can have as many sodding decorations on the ceiling as he wants - but I just don't think a tree is a wise move with the kittens. Maybe he can have a small tree on the side table or something - even that will go flying but at least they couldn't climb it!

spike7451

Christmas Tress,red rag to a ,well,kitten...I'd go with the smaller table mounted one but if you can,try & afix the base to a stronger base like a square of wood,less it topple over with kitties half way up...

Fire_Fox

If you have an artificial Xmas tree securely attach the top part to the wall or ceiling with a bracket as you should with a tall cat scratcher/ tree/ gym. Anything that is string-like is a risk for being chewed and getting stuck in their gut so you will need to think carefully about anything that hangs nor just breakable ornaments or electrics. Fishing line may not be the best idea, look what it does to water birds and frogs/ toads.

Grimbal

I asked a similar question recently & decided against putting up a tree (kitten is 4-5mo at the moment).

FireFox came up with the great idea of decorating the ceiling (as you suggested too), so we've bought some stuff from Party packs online: we're going round the edges of the room with snowflake string decorations, then having individual hanging snowflakes in the main part of the room. Then for added chav value, we've bought a couple of window decals of a snowman & a Xmas tree





8% via TCB too

VoucherMan

As picklepick said - secure the tree.

The first time I tried putting up a tree.



and he was 5 at the time so no kitten (maybe in his mind)


Me? Never!:)

antw23uk

*Groans* Is it that time of the year again for the tree argument!

Tie the tree securely, dont put expensive decorations round the bottom of it but have a few cheap ones they can 'knock off' if the mood takes them.

Oh and generally threaten to kill them everytime they look at the tree will help but oyu have to be consistent.

Closing the lounge door when you are not there but if you cant then they are gona do a bit of damage :rotfl:

I still miss my beautiful glass ballballs :mad: