Maine coons and Christmas + Marshall update

Hey everyone, hope you're all having a lovely Christmas!! This is my first ever Christmas with a cat... And not just any cat my inquisitive and smart mc Marshall! He's almost 11 months now and I'm debating putting up a tree. Does anyone have any advice about putting up a tree and keeping a kitty out of it/ stopping them from tearing it down or making it Maine coon proof?

And since I know you all love seeing pictures, here's Marshall giving the " why did you stop petting me" look!


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photo by The Happiest Princess, on Flickr

Our tree 2 Christmas's ago :)

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We tried something last year and it worked really well... We wrapped up their catnip toy presents and placed them all around the base of the tree. When the cats went to play with the tree decorations they got distracted by the catnip presents, and by the time they'd finished rolling around in the presents they had forgotten all about the tree!!

Marshall is so handsome! We have an artificial tree. This year we removed the bottom branches hoping that would keep him from chewing and eating the fakes pine needles. Yes he found another way of chewing on the branches & eating the needles. Also the ornaments are higher then he can reach this year (he's 19mos). Last year (he was 7mos) they were a little lower. As you can see, we've given up and this is how our tree will continue to look this year. Of course until he knocks more ornaments down. Which he has taken to leaping up to bat them off. Luckily he hasn't learned to climb the tree.

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Alas, we have found no solution to mc-proofing our tree. However, we have switched to shatterproof ornaments and attempt to entertain the boyz as much as possible to distract them from the curiosity. Sometimes this tactic fails miserably. I must say it has been our experience that they get into more trouble with the artificial trees - dunno why.

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These photos are priceless!!!

Oh brilliant thanks for the replies everyone!! I love all your Christmassy kitty photos!! I like the idea of the distraction catnip presents I might give that a go, I'm guessing I should just get a tree and see what happens but knowing Marshall he will want to be the angel at the top of the tree!

I'll stay on the table, forget the further decoration.
Happy Christmas from Minos.
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Excellent pics! The tree half decorated is priceless!

The first year we went ahead and put the tree up in spite of having two 10-month-old naughty kittens. Yes they did try to climb the tree but we managed to stop them knocking it over, somehow or other. All the lower baubles were whipped off in no time and I was forever finding them underneath the furniture, long after we took the tree down.

Last year we had kitten no 3 and lots of visitors over the holiday so we chickened out and didn't put the tree up at all.
This year, well, we are undecided. Slightly worried about the tree being knocked into the lamp, and the microphones on stands (OH is a recording pianist) and like dominos they could all topple onto the piano....which would not be good.

A Christmas tree to a cat is the biggest and most exciting cat toy in the world...how can they resist?

Well, first year with MC and our norwegian lady we tried a tree. One hour later the tree was out of the house :xmastree:. It wasn't yet decorated but our Finny and Idaho were already in the tree and our Daffy was searching out the bags wanted to play with the bowls.
No, sorry we have no tree anymore

This must be enough :001_wub:

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So sorry you couldn't find a compromise. We know how you feel. It almost doesn't seem like Christmas without a tree, but make the best of it. We have a good giggle with everyone who visits as our house doesn't look "a lot like Christmas" & we don't see it looking like it the next couple of years; at least while Whiskey is in his trouble making years.