New Cat, Fake Tree, Impending Disaster

spool32 · December 2013

Here is Lorrick, kitten / Mac repair guru:

He is super playful and also loves to be UP. Climb, climb climb. He loves to be IN THINGS - boxes, bags, closets, corners, etc. He is PERSISTENT - he will jump up on the counter a half dozen times to get my sandwich while I'm making it, and only sometimes runs away after I fling a handful of water on him from the sink. He is BIG. He's less than a year old but already 8lbs or so and as large as our other cat and our Papillon lapdog.

I just put up our Christmas tree (it is fake) but have put no ornaments on it yet. In the last 24hours I have removed him from the tree 8 times.

What on earth can I do to keep him out of the tree?!? He loves it. It's the perfect combination of climbing and being in things and sneaking and hiding and pouncing on you from cover.

HALP

bowen · December 2013

0 things you can do. Cats climb trees.

They also climb trees and ignore you because they're assholes.

I'm sorry.

You can try that cat repellent spray, but I've found they ignore it after a few hours.

T. J. Nutty Nub · December 2013

Yeah, short of making cat barriers around the room where the tree is, they isn't much you can do. I would embrace it and put up a bunch of cat ornaments.

Heartlash · December 2013

I am not a cat doctor, so take this advice for what it's worth.

Do you have one of those cat fortress/tower things? It may provide a safer, more structured and appealing alternative for your cat to climb/hang out in. My friends had one (It's a large, white structure with built in scratching posts and several tiered platforms). Their cat pretty much hangs out in/on/around it all the time.

krackq · December 2013

I've never found anything that works well. The best we could ever hope for with our previous cat is to secure the tree and weight it.. she was too heavy but always climbed the tree and knocked it over. It was a mess. We have a new cat instead that likes to smack things from the tree and chew on the light bulbs (pull them from their sockets).

Pantshandshake · December 2013

Yeah, you either need to put up a physical barrier, or not have that tree in there. This is pretty much the reason why my wife and I put our fake trees outside. Though, that's because of dogs rather than cats, but same principle.

Psykoma · December 2013

spool32 wrote: »

.

I just put up our Christmas tree (it is fake) but have put no ornaments on it yet. In the last 24hours I have removed him from the tree 8 times.

Personally, my cat would be up our tree several times a day before we put lights + ornaments on it and wrapped a soft cloth base around the bottom.

Now she just sleeps on that base.
Dunno why, but apparently the lights and ornaments were a deterrant for her.

Try setting up the lights, and some ornaments you don't particularly care about breaking, and see what happens?

spool32 · December 2013

Pantshandshake wrote: »

Yeah, you either need to put up a physical barrier, or not have that tree in there. This is pretty much the reason why my wife and I put our fake trees outside. Though, that's because of dogs rather than cats, but same principle.

This is our only tree! I can't put it outside...

bowen · December 2013

You should probably break up with your cat, delete your facebook, and hit the gym then.

mts · December 2013

just give in to it

azith28 · December 2013

Yeahhhh... the best thing i can suggest is to just roll with it. Make sure the tree is secured, maybe wire it against the wall so it doesnt fall over. as long as she/he is getting attention from you because shes doing something wrong, shes going to keep doing it.

zagdrob · December 2013

Might I suggest one or more of these placed around / under your tree?

Motion Activated Pet Deterrent

You're a gaming family, so pretend you are playing 'Tower Defense: Living Room Edition'. Entertainment for the whole family.

admanb · December 2013

What you should do is post pictures of your cat in the tree. It will help us more effectively analyze the problem.

Siska · December 2013

Put the tree in a room you can close the door to. Or try to provide something better for him to climb and hide in. Forbidding and punishing your cat for doing something fun that he wants to do just makes it a kitty Indiana Jones adventure. Which I guess makes you the heart ripping out villain who gets all his things smashed.

Creagan · December 2013

Back when my mom and her sister were small, my grandmother trained their cat to stay out of the tree by having my mother and aunt hide behind furniture with water pistols. Whenever the cat got near the tree, they squirted her with water. They did this every year until the cat became afraid of the Christmas tree and left it alone.

But my grandparents weren't especially worried about animal cruelty, so you might not want to go that route.

see317 · December 2013

Maybe go another route? Instead of decorating the tree, decorate the cat.

A nice Christmas collar, maybe something with jingle bells on it, maybe find one that lights up. You'll probably need more cats to get the effect of a fully decorated Christmas tree though.
You'd also want to secure the tree or weight it down at the base so it's harder to tip over.

MichaelLC · December 2013

Water is s fine, just have to be consistent. Also if there cat is going outside you probably don't want it wet.

One friend gave in and put stuffed animals in her tree for decorations.

Delzhand · December 2013

I cannot recommend this enough:

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If you can't keep the cat out of the tree, you can at least prevent it from falling forward into your living room. This works best if your tree is in a corner.

Bliss 101 · December 2013

Two mighty weapons have been given to man, so that man may attempt to train cats: tin foil and water pistols.

I'd try covering the floor around the tree with tin foil for a couple of days. Most cats absolutely hate tin foil and won't go near the tree even after you've removed the foil.

puffycow · December 2013

I could not keep either cat out of my tree. Yelling, scolding, chasing, terrifying... didn't matter. All it did was keep them out of the tree when I was around. When I would come home from work there would be gaping holes where they obvious were laying. We got rid of that fake one and now we have a 4-foot fake one that they cannot fit in. That was our answer.

Hevach · December 2013

Rabbit wire around the base might work - the stuff you by by the roll at Home Depot is just about the right height to shove it up into the bottom row of branches on most fake trees, and you can cut it with cheap wire cutters if it's too tall. If you don't want to see it, some floor decorations (easy DIY option: Empty boxes with wrapping paper and ribbons) can be used to hide it. I've found that with the green coated stuff and our existing decoy ornaments (cheap foam-and-glitter crap from Wal Mart hung around the bottom branches to distract the cats from more fun things like wires and garland) is enough that it blends in.

I can only attest to a 50% success rate using this in my house. It has stopped Luna entirely from bothering the tree, but Loki still figures something out - your cat does sound like he's closer to Loki's temperament, but it might be worth consideration, it's a lot harder to get into most fake trees through the outside than to climb up the middle.

Mill · December 2013

As others have suggested, first secure the tree in a manner that prevents it from falling over. I've always had live Christmas trees instead of those fake ones, but I'd imagine that the stands that come with them have holes that allow one to secure the stand to a heavy, sturdy wooden base (try to get something that is either square, circular or some other shape where all the sides are the same length and try for a minimum of a 2ft width/diameter (IMO something that isn't a square would probably work better if you use a tree skirt - since it's kind of a pain to position those in such a way, that a square base can't be noticed). Fairly heave base will probably be enough, but that does give you a means to use weights if your cat is still able to knock it.

After that, good luck. You can either try training our cat with water pistols, tin foil and other gimmicks. Go with the room approach (I'd still recommend securing it, in case the cat slips in or someone forgets to close the door). Hope that the cat loses interest once ornaments and lights are up. Just deal with the fact that your cat is hell bent on climbing the tree.

If you are unsuccessful in keeping the cat out of the tree. I'd say go for non-breakable ornaments or make sure the glass ones are secured enough that they can't fall off ever. On a note with non-breakable ornaments, I'd avoid yarn ball ornaments (I think that's what they are called) since those tend to get ruined by trees on there own and I remember my cats that liked to play with the tree taking an interest in those over all the other ornaments that can roll on the ground. I'd also avoid any ornaments that have loose strings.

spool32 · December 2013

An update!

I am going to try and make the cat conform to our traditions, rather than replace our ornaments or change trees. We have a big family and I don't want to go for a tiny tree or a set of decorations that don't have any tradition or history attached. The process will be different this year though... I began with the tinfoil option and it is mooostly working. In addition to that I have stationed a can of compressed air (for cleaning computers etc) near the tree and we blast him with it whenever he tries to get in the tree.

We left it empty for a couple of days while this process worked. The cat is mortally offended by a blast of canned air and will flee out of the tree immediately! This was working great and he'd lost interest, so last night we put all the non-breakable ornaments up and waited to see what would happen.

More air is required, for sure. Not only was it a challenge last night, he also got into the tree after we went to bed. There were a couple of ornaments on the floor this morning and even more concerning, his breakaway collar was also on the floor so he obviously got himself tangled trying to get out.

We will see how today goes.

spool32 · December 2013

Morning update: One glass ornament was accidentally put on the tree. It is broken now. Wife discovered it by hearing tiny glass-crunch noises and investigated... he was under the tree, stepping on the large bits and biting them.

wtf, cat! That is glass! You are the dumbest.

TychoCelchuuu · December 2013

I don't know how cats survived in the wild before we were around to protect them from glass objects.

Blake T · December 2013

Glass update.

It was invented after humans were invented.

Blake T · December 2013

As an idea, do you see how he gets into the tree?

If he gets in from the underside, you could put netting just on the underside.

Additionally if he dislikes alfoil try wrapping some branches in it as well.

TychoCelchuuu · December 2013

Or if he gets in from the top, turn the tree upside-down and put netting just on the underside.

Athenor · December 2013

Have you ever gotten one of those airzookas? Might do the trick as well as the compressed air. I dunno how cats react to those things, but I know it makes me jump.