It’s the name they gave her at the shelter. We just kept it.
Cute. Glad to see my cat’s not the only one. I wouldn’t want to think my cat was weird…I mean, all cats are weird, but at least Roxxy’s not weirder than any other cat.
I always relish an excuse to plug the Blender Defender.
In all seriousness though Dio, I think you may have to experiment. My last roommate had two cats. One ate up that anti-cat spray like it was his last meal. But he hated aluminum foil. Other cat didn’t mind the foil but was freaked out by crumply newspaper. What finally worked was that SSSScat thing that Tio Gringo mentioned. Never had to buy a refill, the cats just saw the thing and stayed away from whatever we were protecting.
She was a tiny kitten then- she’d climb up there and fall asleep because the lights made it so warm, and it was the cutest thing ever. That was a couple of years ago, and we haven’t even had a tree since then, so I don’t know what I’d do to keep her out of it now… have you tried spraying water on her when she gets near it? Spraying water is pretty much my go-to solution for any keep-away-cat problem. Easy-peasy.
Nah, this is normal. Well, normal for cats, anyway. I picked up our small (2’) artificial tree and put the ornaments back on it not more than half an hour ago. It’s just one of the joys of having a cat, like having clumps of fur on all your clothes. And hairballs.
Hi Dio. I agree with the experimenting. You have to discover what works for your cat. My guys love playing with balled-up foil, but won’t walk on just plain sheets that are crinkled a little bit. The SSScat works for a lot of people. And citrus is generally thought to be a deterrent, cats just don’t usually like the smell of citrus, but there are weirdos out there who do.
With the citrus idea, just cut an orange or lemon and let her sniff the innards. She’ll either wrinkle her nose, squint and turn away from it, or she might lick it. If she does the latter, you know citrus doesn’t work on her! If it does, though, there’s an attractive solution you can put in the tree as a nice scent, and as a decoration:
orange pomanders, I haven’t tried the oven-curing as listed in these instructions, but the extra spice-rolling is definitely not necessary, especially if you live in a cooler less-humid climate right now. I’ve never done the extra rolling part, just did the cloves and set the orange out in the tree while it dried. Lemons are nice, too.
A fun little project to do with your daughters if they’re not too old or too cool for that. Or you can just put the rinds in the tree, in a little sachet or something.
Double-sided tape could also work. They make special tape in the feline supplies section at pet supply stores, but carpet tape works just the same. Wrap the tape around the areas of the tree where kitty puts her paws for climbing. They really, really, don’t like the sticky. Except for the ones like my Nimbus, who eat it.
Use a collapsable puppy-pen around the tree - it’ll help protect the tree and presents from the critters. They’re adjustable to fit around your space as needed. Get a black wire one to help it blend in and still allow easy tree viewing.
Kinda like this one: http://thespiritdog.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/large81778kvvet_puppy_pen.jpg
If the cats are still trying to climb over, add some double-sided tape at the top.
My cats laugh at your puppy pen. Laugh at it, do you hear me? They won’t climb it. They’ll jump over it. And they’ll laugh while they do it.
What if you cover the puppy pen in aluminum foil and then vomit on it?
This was my suggestion, but I’m not sure what you could do to tramatize the cat. Flicking on the vaccum every time it nears the tree? Running at the tree, waving your arms while screaming?
Yeah, I’ve heard “cats hate tinfoil” but when a friend and I tried using tinfoil to keep her foster kittens from jumping off the stairs and onto the grandfather clock, they decided tinfoil is the bestest toy ever. They had a merry old time when we laid a sheet down and explained they weren’t supposed to like it. One managed to get under it, and the rest attacked, increasinf the fun for all.
Yes, the person giving me this advice cut them in quarters and tucked them into the bottom portion of the tree. I sure hope it works.
The two X’s are for a double dose of eXXcretin’!
It will only last a month or so and give you great cat stories the rest of your life. Keep the camera handy.
I’m another one whose cats are more likely to be attracted to foil than to be deterred by it. They love it. And, while they don’t love double-sided tape, they’re not particularly deterred by it, either.
This is a here and there for me. It definitely works for me, but not necessarily in the way that it’s supposed to. Instead of training the cats not to go where I put it, I end up training the cats not to go where I put it only when it’s there. They quickly figured out that the can is to be feared, not the locations. I also tried just putting down the empty replacement cans, but they recognize the difference between the empty can and the can with the unit on top of it.
I currently have two of them and put them on either side of my entertainment center. Even so, my particularly headstrong boy Becket just powers through it sometimes. I just put up a pretty cheap (and admittedly crappy looking) artificial tree and they’re doing a number on it. I’m putting it up in two stages - at first with just the lights so they get used to it and then eventually with the ornaments. I’m not sure I’m going to make it to stage #2. They’ve (read: Becket) has already bent one of the bottom branches and I can’t fix it …
and put it on a treadmill…
…oh, and with a 1920’s death ray
…for twenty minutes
Yeah, we even have a little “tent” for them called a “crinkle cave”, and the bottom material makes noise like crumpled up newspaper. Luci especially loves it. (It goes with one of those pop-open cubes. They adore it)
When our Fluffy was little, we used to make her foil balls. We made them for Noel too, but then when we got Misty, she’d chew on them, so we just made them out of wadded up paper.
And even if cats hated the sound of foil, this is Annie. Annie likes noise. This is the cat that likes thunder storms. She likes it when my mother runs the sweeper. Foil’s nothing.
(The problem is her pulling the ornaments off, and then the dog gets them and chews on them. sigh I want to hang her at the top of the tree – we haven’t put up the angel the last few years…)