Dear Cat

[indysteel]

Jess, I've had good luck getting Izzy to leave stuff alone by squirting her with a bit of water. Have you tried that tactic?

[katluvr]

I am very lucky, with 6 indoor cats they do NOT bother the tree. Now they all lay underneath it at different times. I also put "cat friendly" ornaments on the lower limbs, so they can play with those and if they "knock" them off they don't break and they bat them around on the ground. Again, I am VERY lucky!

And WHY is it that cats LOVE to lay under the tree. I had just put mine up (artificial tree) and before anything was done there was a cat under the tree!

My first dear cat (no longer with us here on earth) would remove the bows from EVERY package. I could never put those tacky store bought bows (which I still use) on any package. They were her favorite toys!

K

[jessmarimba]

Jess, I've had good luck getting Izzy to leave stuff alone by squirting her with a bit of water. Have you tried that tactic?

I haven't actually "caught" him yet. I know who it is, because the other two know better and the branches aren't spontaneously flattening. But I'm also not home enough to really reinforce it - I'm gone 14 hours for two days and about 9 for the other 3, way too much time for a goldfish-brained 8-month old cat to forget that the tree is off-limits. Now...if I could somehow booby-trap the TREE to squirt him, I'd be all set.

[Biciclista]

To those of you who share your house with felines AND have a christmas tree.
It is NOT goldfish brained for a cat to take great delight in playing with new toys that you put in their domain. Especially indoors only cats who have NEVER seen a tree, you just put a tree in their house! Is that not heaven? 3 dimensional play field with enticing scents and DANGLY THINGS??!?!?

If I were a cat, I would be playing in that tree CONSTANTLY!

[jessmarimba]

To those of you who share your house with felines AND have a christmas tree.
It is NOT goldfish brained for a cat to take great delight in playing with new toys that you put in their domain. Especially indoors only cats who have NEVER seen a tree, you just put a tree in their house! Is that not heaven? 3 dimensional play field with enticing scents and DANGLY THINGS??!?!?

If I were a cat, I would be playing in that tree CONSTANTLY!

He has none of those excuses He grew up outside, and I didn't even get to put anything ON the tree! From the noise pattern, it sounded like he was leaping from the floor to halfway up the tree, then falling off. Repeatedly. He's a slow learner.

But he's goldfish-brained anyway. Attention span = 3 seconds, max. It's actually really funny to see him distracted by something in the middle of chasing something else (especially since he's getting no better at stopping, starting, or changing directions on wood floors).

[indysteel]

I have to wonder about my cats' little brains, too. None of them have really been all that interested in the Christmas tree. They can play in an empty Amazon box for hours, however. Who knows how their minds work.

[katluvr]

Currently my cat's favorite toy is a long orange sting made of t-shirt material. It is like AWESOME! My cats are definitely of the high IQ type!

K

[7rider]

We won't have a tree this year - but we do have cats..so no worries about cats and trees.

Okay...Gonna use this thread to ask another dumb owner question about my kittens. We finally sprouted our tub o' wheat grass for them. Grew nice and tall. Cats love to rip it out of the tub. And...that's it.

They rip it and leave it. All. Over. The. Place.

Aren't they supposed to EAT this stuff? My friend's cat devours this stuff. I'll take scissors and cut up blades into their dinner - which they'll eat. But as far as actually consuming it from the plant on their own...they haven't grasped the concept yet. Zoe is closer to it than Paris (who is an idiot...love him to pieces..but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer). But if I don't dice it up for even Zoe, she won't eat it. Their little meat-eating teeth just don't work on the plants (even the parsley I've been giving them...gotta cut it up).

Is this a trick they learn or what?

[indysteel]

Currently my cat's favorite toy is a long orange sting made of t-shirt material. It is like AWESOME! My cats are definitely of the high IQ type!

K

LOL!

Izzy's favorites are the aforementioned Amazon box, plastic bags (which we tie in a knot for her safety, my ponytail bands, and empty edamame shells. She has a basket full of toys she totally ignores.