Foo - Have your pets ever turned your X-mas tree into a disaster?

Pet owners, have your pets ever ended up turning your beautifully decorated Christmas tree into a disaster area? This happened at my mother's house recently.

As most of you know who have live trees, selecting, carrying, standing, and decorating takes a lot of time, consideration, and patience. As I helped my mother decorate the tree, her two cats became very curious and excited. They had experienced Christmas before and went about what cats do; batting things, inspecting decorations before they came out of the box, studying the garland as it was draped on various tree branches, and watching every ornament as it was hung. Even cats needed a sense of participation. When the tree was finally decorated, it was beautiful. It was that way when I returned to my apartment two days later.

Last night, my mother was awakened from her sleep due to a loud CRASH! Looking in her living room, she discovered the tree lying on the floor and smashed tree ornaments everywhere. After putting the tree back in its stand and and cleaning up the mess, she found her frightened cats cowering under beds, refusing to come out.
She didn't punnish the cats for the incident.

She has since replaced the smashed ornaments and re-decorated the tree.



So, fellow Foosters, have you ever experienced this type of situation? Please discuss

My friends cat dropped his new box set of 24 on the floor, most of the CDs face down and scratched them up.. Not quite the same scale as your moms cat though.

Schutzhund's only get bad guys.





Unless your a 4 month old puppy that likes BIG sticks.

Last Christmas my newlywed cousin, celebrating their 1st Christmas together, supprised his new bride with a new puppy. The puppy smalled chocolates in one of the presents and promptly ripped it open and devoured all contents. Surprisingly the dog was still hungry and ripped open every other gift in search of more food but had no luck. Well then the chocolate started doing its thing and before they knew it he shiz and pukes all over the rest of the house. Merry Christmas

Nope, never. No way a cat could take down a tree I set up. Now I can imagine it happening. If anything that did not belong got in the house and behind the tree the dogs would go in after it, and without making a special custom stand that would mean tree down.

There is one ornament on the tree that Zeo the cat loves. It is a stuffed cloth Santa that we put on the lowest branch so he can lie on his back and swat at it. It's the only one he bothers, so I will let him live.

Oh you mean the time I was struggling, trying to bring the tree into the house and the dogs all came to protect me?


Oh yeah. That was fun. REAL fun. Dang dogs.

He takes the tissue papers out of the Christmas bags and rips them all up!
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n45/blonduathlongrl/loootsofpics140.jpg

Kind of, the first Christmas with my Border Collie he was confused by the tree inside, so he started to hike his leg and mark it since that is what you do to trees. Unfortunately there were presents under it.

My cat used to eat the tinsel off the tree. Just pass through the system, mostly. We'd come home and find her being chased by a piece of poop attached by a long strand of tinsel. No tinsel anymore.

Nope, not here! With our two cats we know it would be a disaster so we don't put a tree up.

they're just trying to help.
http://icanhascheezburger.wordpress.com/files/2007/12/funny-pictures-cat-hangs-angel.jpg

He takes the tissue papers out of the Christmas bags and rips them all up!
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n45/blonduathlongrl/loootsofpics140.jpg

Pomeranian?

Ohhh yes, have had several family cats either stuck half way up, tipped the tree over, ruined ornaments, etc.

Came home one day early and my new little dog comes running at me all sorts of happy - and skids across the kitchen floor ... leaving red streaks. I thought the worst! So I grabbed her and her mouth was a brilliant red ---- she had fun while I was at work - taking the shiny fake apples out of the silver bowl on the table - and destroying them on the carpet - there was red stuff everywhere.

And what family with an animal hasn't had a bout with ...

<insert Jaws theme>

the dreaded tinsel that is neither in nor out :D

Nope, except for wondering why this big "thing" is in the living room - my dog could care less about the tree, or the presents under it.

Except for using my wifes hand made tree skirt for a bathroom, or bed, no real problems. Any we have had many pets, cats and dogs.

No, but after Christmas, when all the neighbors' trees are out on the curb to be picked up, Grover likes to pee on them (I think he wants to make sure they won't be re-used).

Ha! When I was a teenager, we had a split entry house and a 6.5-foot tree and a tiny 5 pound cat.

One night the cat managed to not only climb up the tree and tip it over, she gave it enough momentum to flip over the railing and down onto the lower level. It was so spectacular that we couldn't get upset. A mess, yes, and I will never forget it. Of course the last thing we were thinking about was taking a picture.

And as soon as we got it set back up, the cat went right back into the tree to take a nap.

Nothing major - the dogs tails send a lot of needles flying when they're wagging next to the tree. Our former dog had a pretty hard tail that would bat the ornaments across the room. The cat couldn't care less about the tree.

Pomeranian?

chihuahua with hair:p

Over the years none of our 6 dogs have caused a problem but the Grand kids sure have!

I own an English Mastiff, Great Dane and St. Bernard. I can't put anything within a tail's reach on the lower half of the tree. Ornaments will go flying off. The mastiff only knocked over the tree once. He was playing and backed up into it.

chihuahua with hair:p

:lol: Pretty dog!:)

I own an English Mastiff, Great Dane and St. Bernard. I can't put anything within a tail's reach on the lower half of the tree. Ornaments will go flying off. The mastiff only knocked over the tree once. He was playing and backed up into it.

I hear ya, the great tail of justice! Anything at a Dane's tail height: ornaments, decorations on end tables, coffee tables, and there's always the dreaded tail whip to the jewels to watch for. :cry::lol:

I own an English Mastiff, Great Dane and St. Bernard. I can't put anything within a tail's reach on the lower half of the tree. Ornaments will go flying off. The mastiff only knocked over the tree once. He was playing and backed up into it.

BIG DOGS!!!

They are big dogs. Best security system I ever invested in.

My housemate had a hyper Doberman and many tree-climbing cats. She is now very talented at making unbreakable ornaments. :)

I hear ya, the great tail of justice! Anything at a Dane's tail height: ornaments, decorations on end tables, coffee tables, and there's always the dreaded tail whip to the jewels to watch for. :cry::lol:

Beautiful dog. I've got a black lab/dane mix that looks just like your guy there but with a lab head.

I own an English Mastiff, Great Dane and St. Bernard. I can't put anything within a tail's reach on the lower half of the tree. Ornaments will go flying off. The mastiff only knocked over the tree once. He was playing and backed up into it.

:eek: Holy moly! What is that, 500-600lbs of dog? I bet it's entertaining to walk those guys together. The folks at the dog food store must smile when they see you coming. :)

:eek: Holy moly! What is that, 500-600lbs of dog? I bet it's entertaining to walk those guys together. The folks at the dog food store must smile when they see you coming. :)


Horses are cheaper. Bears, not so much.

No pets, but I did visit a family that asked me and a friend to stand beside their tree while they took our picture. As we were standing there the tree fell and I almost freaked. After a moment they said let the tree go and sure enough, they had a device that cranked the tree back to vertical.

Then they showed us the photo album, (dating myself here), full of pictures of people grabbing the tree. It was absolutely great.

No, but once a squirrel crawled down our chimney, into our family room on Christmas eve. We had to chase him out of the house with brooms, blankets etc. He was covered in soot and tracked it everywhere, running in circles mostly. Utter chaos for about three hours. Christmas didn't start until about 11 p.m.

:eek: Holy moly! What is that, 500-600lbs of dog? I bet it's entertaining to walk those guys together. The folks at the dog food store must smile when they see you coming. :)

It actually isn't to bad. I buy a 40lb bag of dog food every two weeks. I make my own wet food for them. I buy whatever meat is on sale or is out of date and simmer that for them with some vegetables.

I also feed my dogs raw food. I will freeze chicken leg quarters or turkey legs and feed them that a few times a week. The raw stuff is their favorite.

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/7680/img0065kv1.jpg

She's a small kitten. Not enough heft to create disaster.

She's a small kitten. Not enough heft to create disaster.
Not yet.

Oh, she's very small. She's half the size of her brother. I don't see her getting very big. :)

As if knocking the tree over weren't enough, my mother's cats have taken to participating in the gift wrapping, too. While I had been wrapping some gifts, my mother's cats just had to check out the gifts being wrapped. The gifts were then placed under the tree. Sure enough, it wasn't long before the cats started opening the gifts on their own with their claws. The gifts have since been moved to a locked closet until Christmas Eve.

I hear ya, the great tail of justice! Anything at a Dane's tail height: ornaments, decorations on end tables, coffee tables, and there's always the dreaded tail whip to the jewels to watch for. :cry::lol:

:lol: very handsome dog though :)

hahah...my ex's dog used to eat candy canes off the tree until they began putting them above dog level...and would frequently knock ornaments off the tree with his tail. Dogs and cats love the trees, i guess it smells great, it's like one big shiny toy!