Cat Tales

Cats versus Christmas has begun!

  Over the weekend, I began the daunting project of putting up and decorating my assortment of Christmas Trees. The cats enjoy the chaos of decorating, and someone always climbs a tree. Sassy, my tortie, was the first offender of the season.

People ask how I keep the herd of cats out of all the trees. Here’s the secret. I don’t. The younger ones are learning, but the older ones know they’re not supposed to climb trees. Batting at ornaments is hit or miss—they leave them alone most of the time. 

I attempt to cat-proof the trees. Two main things I do are pinch the hook of the ornament to the branch so it is harder to knock off and tends to stay in place in the event of a tree getting knocked over. The other is I make sure nothing dangles past the lowest branches so it doesn’t stick out like a shiny beacon to the furry, four-legged ornament hunters. 

There also has to be some compromise. The cats love to sleep on the tree table, which houses several smaller trees. And I let them. If they are there sleeping under the trees, it means they are not harassing them. They are allowed. They especially love the fuzzy tree skirts. They are allowed to sit or sleep under any of the trees. There are also places next to the trees for the cats to sit so they can be close to the trees.

Two of my big trees are on rotating bases which makes them bigger targets as the shiny things are constantly moving.

Watching the cats zone out and stare at the trees is funny. It kind of reminds me of a baby watching a mobile. 

Some of the trees have been up for a few days with little incident. I’m sure at some point, I will find my sneaky house panthers sleeping in the branches of a tree. Since they’re not nearly as noticeable as the other cats, what give them away are the branches dipping, exposing a black mass. If this happens I get to remove them from the tree, hopefully without knocking the tree over due to their death grip. It has happened before. 

After the first few days of the cats checking out the trees, they tend to leave them alone for the most part. They enjoy the cozy ambiance of the trees as much as I do. I’m sure I will have a collection of photos of the cats sleeping under the trees by the end of the season.

Pictured, Peanut took up residence under the trees on the tree table for a nap. No trees or ornaments were harmed.