Cats in trees, rural life 101

[Katahdin]

A couple years ago I adopted this young female feral cat with very impressive tree climbing and descending skills. I observed she actively went after bird nests for a meal. She sleeps under a roof now and gets daily cat chow, but I have no doubt it was a matter of survival for her to climb trees in her younger months. The paws on this young cat were enormous, I concluded it was muscular conditioning from her regular tree climbing. They certainly have a natural tool set to navigate trees if they need to.

 

[Jstpssng]

Except for the last year - I've always had barn cats out here. 40 years. I've had cats that would go 80 to 85 feet up a Ponderosa pine that is 105 feet tall. Why - who knows.......... I've had the same cat come part way down in reverse and then turn and come the remainder of the way head first. Never had/seen a cat fall.

The reason I have no barn cats now ......... barn owls, great horned owls or coyotes. Smart cats will remain in the yard - within the influence of the yard light. "Gone cats" will hunt outside the influence of the yard light.

If you have owls, at least you still won't need to worry about mice. (I like having the owls around anyways.)

 

[Aquamoose]

It was documented during the construction of the Washington Monument in D.C. that a cat got spooked and jumped off the unfinished tip and landed upright and survived. Something about terminal velocity and ability to increase the surface area while falling did help.

Unfortunately, it didn’t survive shortly after. No, the feline didn’t die from the fall, mind you. Workers saw that the cat was dazed but a passing dog took after it and killed it. It was recovered, stuffed, and given to the Smithsonian where it stayed until around 1890.

 

[ponytug]

I once found a deer skeleton wedged in the crook of a tree...

Around here that's the work of a cat. As in a big one. (Mountain lion.) They like to cache the carcass in a tree to keep it away from the coyotes. I never seen one in a tree, but there is a big oak nearby with a horizontal branch that is suspiciously free of lichen and moss. I am told that they can leap 19' vertically and 40' horizontally.

Our barn cats never seem to be up trees. Perhaps there are too many rodents and lizards on the ground around here?

All the best,

Peter

 

[MossRoad]

We had a house cat that could jump up onto the top of the refrigerator from the floor. I still think that's impressive. She'd also run up the wall and hop onto some recessed lighting that was around the rooms. 8' up. Then, to get down, she'd wait for my dad to walk by and launch onto his bald head! At breakfast some days, my dad would come to the table with bandaids on his head. "Cat get your head again dad?"

 

[lman]

We had a house cat that could jump up onto the top of the refrigerator from the floor. I still think that's impressive. She'd also run up the wall and hop onto some recessed lighting that was around the rooms. 8' up. Then, to get down, she'd wait for my dad to walk by and launch onto his bald head! At breakfast some days, my dad would come to the table with bandaids on his head. "Cat get your head again dad?"

Wow, I knew there was a reason we don't have cats in the house. They're in the barn.

 

[MossRoad]

Wow, I knew there was a reason we don't have cats in the house. They're in the barn.

We currently have two house cats, plus 2 visiting from our kids. The 4 of them together is like a heard of wild monkeys for half an hour. Then they eat, take a bath, and sleep for 6 hours. Repeat.

 

[MoKelly]

We only have one cat. He is spoiled beyond belief.

He gets new water every time he looks at it, looks at us and meows.

He gets more food if the bottom of the silver bowl is showing.

He gets his cheeks rubbed if he meows and looks sad.

We open the screen porch door at his command.

But - as said above - he sleeps a lot and we can rest!

But - he is so darn cute.

MoKelly

 

[MossRoad]

Our male cat is a lot of fun...

 

[k0ua]

We used to have an inside kitty that liked to jump from the floor to the top of the refrigerator without any strain at all. and from the fridge she went up to the top of the kitchen cabinets. She had a place to sleep up there undisturbed. Not all cats can do that, but some of them sure make it look easy.