# Christmas and Kitten



## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Congrats on your new kitty! 

For Christmas, make sure all your ornaments are cat-friendly. No tassles, no tinsel(!!!), garlands, etc. Put any breakable ornaments at the top of the tree and make sure the tree itself is secure! We had on tree fall over when our 20 lb cat tried to climb it and got stuck halfway up. Cat was okay, but some ornaments broke when the tree hit the ground! Any valuable, heirloom ornaments probably shouldn't go up on the tree this year just to be on the safe side. Same with breakable decorations NOT on the tree, but around the house. 

I miss Christmas with my kitties. One of them would always try to climb the tree and the other would wander around the bottom and half-heartedly bat at the non-breakable ornaments and sniff the needles. I miss my kitties.


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## Pumba19 (Oct 19, 2011)

haha yeah, some of my friends right out of highschool got their new apartments and new kittens... there were many stories of trees being completely destroyed.. and our kitten definitely is a ball of energy. thanks for the advice though! Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a tree though =)


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## Claire's Friend (Feb 26, 2007)

Two years ago we had Christmas with 2 Siamese kittens (more like Gremlins back then) !:uhoh: They actually did really well with the tree. I got one of those skinny prelit ones in an urn. I used silk flowers, ribbons and unbreakable ornaments (Yay Dollar store !!) But they really didn't bother it much. Now the garland hanging from the fireplace, they thought was a Tarzan rope !!:


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## Pumba19 (Oct 19, 2011)

they are so adorable! and i will definitely check out the dollar store! we have a tree already but we'll look into something to hold it down for sure


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## wmag (Mar 17, 2011)

My cats are 7 and 8 years old and still destroy my christmas tree! No tinsel it is way too tempting for them and they can't resist! I always put up my tree a few days before christmas and usually take it down right after. I get so frustrated because my tree looks so nice then the next morning half the ornaments are off. The next day the lights start falling off because they like to climb it. I could never figure out how to keep them away! This will also be our goldens first christmas! She will be 8 months then so I am hoping it won't be too bad! This year I am going to try bitter apple and hope for the best!


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## Pumba19 (Oct 19, 2011)

what is bitter apple? i've seen it mentioned in a few threads but not too sure what it is.


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## Claire's Friend (Feb 26, 2007)

wmag said:


> My cats are 7 and 8 years old and still destroy my christmas tree! No tinsel it is way too tempting for them and they can't resist! I always put up my tree a few days before christmas and usually take it down right after. I get so frustrated because my tree looks so nice then the next morning half the ornaments are off. The next day the lights start falling off because they like to climb it. I could never figure out how to keep them away! This will also be our goldens first christmas! She will be 8 months then so I am hoping it won't be too bad! This year I am going to try bitter apple and hope for the best!


Wow, I'm sorry. That doesn't sound fun at all. What if you put up the tree with out lights and decorations a couple days early and let you kidz get used to it first. Maybe it wouldn't be so exciting to them when you finally do decorate it. If I have problems with Jordan this year, I plan to put one of her X-pens around it and remove it right before company comes. I have also used half a tree, hung on the wall in the past.


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## DaisyGolden (Jan 4, 2008)

The one thing that you want to be very careful of is that the kitten doesn't chew the light strings.


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## Pumba19 (Oct 19, 2011)

yeah, so far she hasn't tried to chew any other cords we have around the house, she's mostly fascinated with things that move, so definitely no rotating ornaments. she is a climber though, so i really like the idea of setting the tree up with nothing on it first to see how she does.


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## Bentley's Mom (May 19, 2011)

Here is a link for bitter apple [ame]http://www.amazon.com/Grannicks-Bitter-Apple-Bottle-Ounces/dp/B00028ZMEO[/ame] but basically it is a spray that tastes bad to prevent chewing, licking, etc. Keep in mind sometimes they actually like the taste and then you get the opposite of what the product was intended for.


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## Pumba19 (Oct 19, 2011)

cool, i will definitely look into that =) i just checked online and there's a pet store chain in Canada that does carry a similar product thanks =)


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## wmag (Mar 17, 2011)

Claire's Friend said:


> Wow, I'm sorry. That doesn't sound fun at all. What if you put up the tree with out lights and decorations a couple days early and let you kidz get used to it first. Maybe it wouldn't be so exciting to them when you finally do decorate it. If I have problems with Jordan this year, I plan to put one of her X-pens around it and remove it right before company comes. I have also used half a tree, hung on the wall in the past.


It really isn't fun at all! It is hard because I have 2 daughters that love to put the tree up! This will be my female cats 9th christmas and I really have tried everything with her. She climbs it even without everything on it. I never heard of bitter apple until we got our puppy so this will be something new to try. I use the bitter apple to stop the cats from scratching the wall and it actually works great. I got lucky that the cats and the puppy hate it! My husband and I have been trying to figure out what to do this year with all the animals so we don't go crazy! We decided we are going to buy a fake tree with the lights attached already. We have figured out a way to block the puppy so at least I don't think she will be a problem.


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