‘Christmas trees and cats’ is not often a sentence that ends well, however this year the Cat Protection Society of Victoria (CPSV) is ensuring that the two are purrfectly paired.

They are asking cat-lovers to consider donating to their CPSV Christmas Wishing Tree.

The Society’s Marketing and Communications Manager Rachel Bitzilis said the Wishing Tree is a great way to ensure every cat in their care has a ‘Meowry Christmas’.

“It is so important to us that we create a way to ensure the cats and kitties who are seeking refuge at our Shelter this Christmas feel incredibly loved, safe and comforted,” she said.

“Our loyal cat loving community are always asking us how they can help so we thought this would be the perfect way to get them involved this festive season, while supporting the cats in our care at the same time,” she said.

“We’ve made it super simple for everyone to get involved. All they need to do is leave any item from our ‘Wish-List’ under one of our CPSV Christmas Trees (one is located just inside our Adoption Shelter at 200 Elder Street, Greensborough and the other at Greensborough Plaza shopping centre) or if they don’t live in the area, they can make a tax-deductible donation and our team will purchase gifts on their behalf,” Rachel said. 

Items on the wish list include kitten toys, small standing bubble machines, cat beds, cat tunnels, heat bags, soft teddies, feathers and soft blankets and towels. It is asked that any gifts left under the CPSV Christmas Tree are new and where possible, have a tag attached.

Summer is the Society’s busiest time of the year and so there will be many cats in need requiring love and support.

“The Christmas and summer period is our busiest time at the Shelter. During this time, we will need to provide short-term refuge for well over 600 cats and kitten in need,” Rachel said.

Last week the Society asked their cat loving community to share the antics their cats have got up to with their Christmas trees. They were inundated with funny tales including:

“We’ve only just adopted 10 week old Biscuit from the CPSV and he is fascinated by our Christmas tree. He uses it as a scratching post and likes to play with all the low hanging baubles. He has even got our seven year old cat Bella interested in the tree again, she wants to join in the fun and has a penchant for chewing on the tree. Thankfully she is good at following instructions and stops as soon as I tell her to.”

Tanya Morehead

“Our cat Lucy once ate a piece of narrow tinsel when she was nine months old. We only realised when she’d pooped half of it out and was running in circles, chasing it around the living room!”

Natasha Davis (Please note Lucy was thankfully not harmed from eating the tinsel)

“We cannot keep this one out of the tree. Ever since we put our tree up, our one-year-old Ruby has developed a routine where she cleans herself thoroughly every night and then goes to the tree and destroys it.”

Jessica Blunt

While our cats keep us entertained with their Christmas tree mischief, the Society’s Senior Veterinarian, Dr Peta Keown said there is a serious side to ensuring our cats are kept safe.

“As many cats have a natural tendency to want to climb Christmas trees, it is important that you secure your tree to ensure your cat doesn’t fall over with the tree. There is also a risk that some cats (mainly younger curious kittens) may try to eat Christmas decorations. Please keep decorations away from your kittens but if this does happen, visit your local vet and have them looked over.”

“If your cat is young and it is hard to keep an eye on them around the tree it is ideal to try and protect them from climbing the tree and playing with the decorations. You can do this by putting a Perspex barrier around the tree or having the tree and decorations set up in a room your cat can’t access,” Dr Keown said.

Other tips the CPSV suggest to protect both your cat and tree this year are:

·       Avoid low hanging Christmas decorations and lights.

·       Add the smell of citrus to the tree and its base. Cats don’t like the smell so it will turn them off climbing.

·       Keep your tree away from furniture so they can’t jump from the furniture to the tree.

·       If you have a real tree ensure your cat can’t access the Christmas tree water at its base.

To find out more about the CPSV’s Christmas Wishing Tree visit www.catprotection.com.au/wishingtree/