How many years have you spent, with your cat finding your Christmas Tree irresistible? Younger cats love to play with the baubles hanging off the tree, as they are shiny and interesting things that they don’t see very often. What normally happens when your cat spots the baubles is that it will tap it and tap it, then it grabs it and pulls the bauble off the tree. The chaos then follows! If you have a large real tree, you can guarantee having an excess of pine needles covering your carpet, or if you have an artificial Christmas tree, your cat will probably have moved the lower branches causing your Christmas lights and tinsel to hang off the tree; which then causes even more of a problem by leaving the temptation of more hanging objects for your cat to pull down.
The only way to stop your cat from causing devastation around your Christmas tree is to use a deterrent. Many people will use all sorts of things to try and stop the cat from getting close to the tree, some people will put the Christmas tree in a children’s play pen (however often the cat will happily jump over this or squeeze through the bars), other people will recommend leaving citrus peel around the bottom of your tree, I don’t recommend this method as you can end up staining your floor or carpet if you are not very careful, especially as the fruits contain acid.
I have found by far the best cat deterrent for any type of Christmas tree is home made decorations. It is true that cats do not like the smell of citrus, their noses are very sensitive, and often citrus can be overpowering and they will not approach, this is why I recommend making the old fashioned orange and clove hanging tree ornaments. That way the Christmas tree will still look nicely decorated, and you’ve got a built in cat deterrent.
The ideal way to make these is to purchase large oranges (not the easy peel type), you’ll want to dry these out as much as possible. Dry them in a oven on a very low temperature, you want to evaporate the moisture in the orange rather than cooking the orange. When the orange has dried to a good degree (but not too hard), you need to push in the cloves all the way around the orange, covering as much of the skin as you can. Decide now how you are going to attach the ribbon (to hang the orange on the tree), you could put the ribbon through the orange and secure it at the bottom with a loop at the top, or you could tie the ribbon like a parcel around the orange, if you want to pass the ribbon through the orange, then make sure you make a whole now. Return the oranges to the oven on a low temperature to finish drying. Once dry, let them cool and then tie on the ribbon.
Your oranges are now ready to decorate your Christmas tree. Your house will be wonderfully fragranced with the scent of oranges and cloves, and I can guarantee your cat will avoid the Christmas tree for the entire Christmas season. If it looks like your oranges won’t last that long, then purchase some more and start the process again.
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