An annoyed mum has revealed the chaotic moment her 'chubby' cat 'almost set the house on fire' after he climbed her Christmas tree and sent it crashing down onto burning candles. Anna Scullion's artificial tree had only been up for half an hour when she realised 'troublemaker' Eric had jumped inside.
The 51-year-old began filming it to show friends yet just two seconds later she was left shrieking her cat's name as the four-foot tree toppled off its two-foot-tall table. Footage shows the top of the tree bash into a shelf just millimetres from her £500 TV and its lower half land on a table topped with three candles.
Baubles can even be heard smashing as they fall from the tree and 'clumsy' Eric, six, runs out of the room. Panicked Anna says she feared the house was going to catch fire so she leapt off the sofa to put the candles out and steady the fallen tree.
The community support worker says the lights and some baubles were smashed and she had to spend a second three-hour stint putting it all back up the following day. She believes the 'clumsy' cat either wanted to hide in the branches or snatch the angel tree topper but jokes he's too chubby and not agile enough to avoid causing a mess.
She's since warned cat owners to keep both candles and troublesome cats away from their trees to avoid Christmas chaos. Anna, from Renfrewshire, Scotland, said: "I saw it shaking so I thought it looked like a dancing tree. I started filming and then the whole thing just came down.
"I thought 'f**k' and that's when I shouted his name. I was worried about the house setting fire. The tree nearly caught fire because it fell on the candles so I grabbed it away and put them out. It was frantic.
"Eric ran off and left me to clear up the mess. He's a terrible troublemaker and he's always up to no good. He wants to hide in the branches. I wanted to video it because it would have looked like a dancing tree but I didn't expect him to go so high.
"He went halfway up and he's quite a chubby cat and clumsy. He's not very agile. Everything fell off the tree. The lights were smashed and everything was scattered everywhere. It was like picking up scrambled eggs off the floor.
"I didn't even attempt to fix it that night. I just shut the door and left it until the next morning. It took me three hours to put it back up.
"We're waiting to see if we'll wake up with the tree on the floor this year. I'll make sure there aren't any lit candles around the tree from now on." Anna admits she was tempted to throw the whole tree and decorations in the bin the next day in frustration at Eric's antics.
She says the moggy had caused 'the odd topple and shake' before the incident but the tree had never fallen to the ground. Friends were quick to laugh at the close call in the comments section with more than 60 reacting to the post.
One pal commented: "I can't stop watching. That's Eric grounded for eternity. On the plus side he missed the TV by centimetres." Anna replied: "The house nearly went up in smoke as the tree fell on top of candles.
"The tree is mangled. He is your Christmas present." Another said: "Omg that's Eric definitely on the naughty list."
A third added: "This is very funny. Your reaction is too. I'm dreading what Nala will be like when we put ours up."
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