Withered, you clearly have never even _met_ a cat.

Clearly you really haven't had a cat. I've had six cats ( two at a time ) and teaching them how to behave, it's not as simple as you think. They are cats, they will pay attention when they want to, not when you want them to. A Christmas tree with ornaments on it, sparkly and shiny or not, is obviously going to get the cats attention. I've only had a few cats that haven't went for the Christmas tree. Also, closed doors, do you really want to listen to a cat meowing and scratching at the door for god-knows-how-long?

So some scratching and meowing is more annoying than having to clean up broken things/mess behind your pet? Setting boundaries for your pet is pretty basic thing if you are a responsible pet owner. Cats can be trained just as much as dogs can be. If you do not put the effort in teaching your pet basic things then you have no right to complain when they behave like they do.

Oh believe me, I have a cat who constantly meows and yes you get sick of hearing it. Cleaning up broken items isn't really much of a pain. Listening to your cat singing the song of their people all day and at stupid hours during the night when you're trying to sleep, yeah that's waaaay more annoying. Also, I have no problem with my cats. Out of all of them, only one cat has broken something and it was easy enough to put together. Yes a cat can be trained, but as I said, a cat will listen when they want to.