A chubby house cat is now on the naughty list for almost setting fire to his family's home after he climbed up their Christmas tree and brought it crashing down onto burning candles. Owner Anna Scullion said the artificial tree had only been up for half an hour before she realised 'troublemaker' Eric had jumped inside.
The 51-year-old began filming the tree to show it off to her 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."
Anna didn't even attempt to fix the mess that evening, and left it until the next morning.
So frustrated by Eric's antics, she was almost tempted to throw the tree and its decorations in the bin.
Before the incident, the moggy had only caused the odd topple and had never before brought the tree to fall to the ground.
But from now on, Anna says she will make sure there aren't any lit candles around the tree.
She shared the clip online, and 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."
Do you have a funny story to share? Please get in touch at webfeatures@trinitymirror.com
