its not funny but i have to laugh

[pleasehelp]

Frankie never fails to make me laugh although sometimes I am fit to murder him with my christmas tree - he won't leave it alone -

anyway I have found out that he HATES visitors. My mam and sis came up to see me about a week ago - he gave them a FILTHY look and walked straight out the door and sat on the stairs until they left.

then a couple of nights ago a neighbour came down to drop something off. He came in and sat down on the chair that Frankie usually sits on. Frankie gave him a filthy look and walked out and sat in the hall - he would not come in. anyway,the neighbour left after an hour - frankie then came back in the sitting room. So I thought nothing of it. Until the next morning when I was cleaning - he only went and pee'd on the chair that my neighbour was sitting on. The bold thing.

any ideas on how I keep him away from my christmas tree - I have him a little tap with the end of an umbrella on the bum the last day after the millionth time telling him to get away from the tree - he cried at me and ran out. I felt so cruel that I had to go out and give him a cuddle and some prawns.

[Mags]

Cassie is exactly the same with strangers........... except she has never pee'd on a chair that anyone has used!

Regarding cats leaving the Christmas tree alone, it has taken 10 years for Cassie to stop climbing up through the centre of ours! That's probably due to the fact that we have a narrower tree this year so it would be more difficult for her. It hasn't stopped her having the occasional bash at the baubles though!!

I found she would never go up the tree while we were in the room but as soon as we had disappeared her fun began!! It got to the point that we always shut the lounge door at night so that she couldn't get anywhere near the tree!

[Rosie]

I find a child's waterpistol invaluable. Alfie takes great delight in sitting on the stairs and doing a very good take on "she loves me, she loves me not" with the staircarpet. He rips pieces off and spits them out Anyway it only took one squirt just as he set off tearing a piece off and touchwood he has left it ever since - so it might be worth a try. I tried shouting, clapping my hands and making loud noices but nothing else worked and no I don't feel bad about it

[dandysmom]

Afraid I have no suggestions as I've been lucky with trees; only one instance of tree-climbing in years (with disasterous results...knocked over!) But the water pistol sounds worth a try...

Leia hates visitors and immediately vanishes when they come; even people that she's known for years. Some cats just aren't sociable outside of their own family .......

[pleasehelp]

rosie

thats an excellent idea. I think my OH who always says he doesn't like cats will love that idea too. For a man to say he doesn't like cats and yet spend every waking moment playing with Frankie and running up and down the stairs after him is very puzzling. The last evening they spend two hours running around and jumping at each other - the cat and yes, a grown man. My head was busting. Anyway we went in to watch a film at 9 p.m. By 9.10 p.m. the OH was snoring on his chair and frankie was snoring beside me. Men!!

I will definitely try the water pistol.

[dandysmom]

Hee hee, what a funny story. My Dad "didn't like cats" either; guess who the cat often slept with at night...

[Elaine]

Just one thing about the water pistol, try to be very discreet about it and not let Frankie know that the water has come from you. The idea behind these things is that the cat should associate being hit by water with aproaching the tree and not as some nasty deed by you.
Some people say cats hate the smell of citrus, personally my cats are indifferent to this but it amy be worth trying it yourself, maybe you could place some oranges or orange peal around the tree.
Others say cats dont like to walk on tinfoil, so that may be another avenue to try.
We once had a problem with Eva, oh yes its hard to beleive she would ever cause a problem , with her climbing up onto the fridge and scratching the wall paper. We collected empty soft drink cans, put a few pennies or small stones in them and set them up in a random fashion. Eva jumped up, the cans fell over, Eva got a fright and ran. We did this two or three times and she has never gone up there since.

[cybeeb]

We use a spray bottle. Like the kind you can mist your plants with. You can set the bottle to shoot a long stream. So you can squirt the cat without being anywhere near it. We use it to train our cats to stay away from the door as they are not allowed outside.
I also read that cats don't like aluminum foil and to spread it around the tree like a tree skirt for a while. Our cats watched us do this one year, laughed at us and played with the tree. Now we put up our tree in a spare bedroom and keep the door closed.

[northern lass]

We keep the kittens off the Christmas tree with a short blast from the hairdryer - they have learnt quickly and tend to leave it alone ( I also keep the door shut when we are out.

I think it is the whoosh of air and the noise.

Unfortunately they still like to help when I'm wrapping presents - Max has a thing for sitting on paper

[Mags]

Originally Posted by northern lass

We keep the kittens off the Christmas tree with a short blast from the hairdryer - they have learnt quickly and tend to leave it alone ( I also keep the door shut when we are out.

I think it is the whoosh of air and the noise.

Unfortunately they still like to help when I'm wrapping presents - Max has a thing for sitting on paper

That's a good idea, never heard of that before ........... as long as the dryer is on cool!