Cats in trees, rural life 101

[Sigarms]

I'm over 50 in age.

Never ever had a cat so far up in a tree that he couldn't get down.

Funny enough, this one cat that's either stupid or has large gonads and walks on the first floor around the our dogs with impunity (we have gates seperating the floors of our house to keep the dogs and cats separated).

That said, put the dogs and that one cat outside, whole different arena and the social dynamics change 180 degrees.

Long story short, cat out for hours, called him, henever came back. Give him 5 minutes, then let the dogs out, and the smallest black dog chases the cat up the tree.

I'm going to guess he's a good 35' up.

He won't come down after the dogs are in.

Wife is visiting her mom for a couple of days and I'm by myself as my 2 boys are at work.

I thought to myself "well, you got your dumb arse up there, you will probably figure out a way to get your dumb arse back down."

I go and pick up groceries, come back and he was on the back porch.

What I find interesting is does the cat family know how to "back down" a tree the same way they climbed it going up?

Did come across this, but at the end of the day, I just let the cat figure it out LOL

Why Do Cats Get Stuck in Trees? | PetMD

Why do cats know how to climb trees, but can’t find their way down? Learn why cats have an easier time climbing up trees than they do down with some insight from cat behavior experts.

www.petmd.com

 

[bcp]

I've never seen a cat skeleton in a tree.



Bruce

 

[Sigarms]

I've never seen a cat skeleton in a tree.



Bruce

Point taken! Honestly though, I've never seen any skeletons in trees LOL

After doing some online research, cats have a different terminal velocity than humans which I didn't know.

I'm really sincerely curious exactly how he got down. He seemed to have a bugger of a time not even 8' up on the Japanese maple in front of the house, and there were limbs all over the place for him to navigate down. Around the Garden, he's gotten up to about 12' and climed down, but nothing this high. Not certain if he went down head first with his claws or "backing down" with his claws or if he just jumped.

 

[bcp]

Terminal velocity...

Cat jumps five storeys to safety from burning building

The daring feline leapt from a burning building in Chicago, Illinois, and landed on grass.

www.bbc.com

Bruce

 

[RickB]

I've never seen a cat skeleton in a tree.



Bruce

Nor have I.

 

[MoKelly]

Some say a cat can jump 3-7 stories down and be OK.

I’ve never seen a cat jump down from more than 10 feet - but they are very graceful creatures.

MoKelly

 

[Jstpssng]

I've never seen a cat skeleton in a tree either. I did see the FD remove one from a utility pole though, after it touched the wrong 2 wires.

 

[Sigarms]

Some say a cat can jump 3-7 stories down and be OK.

I’ve never seen a cat jump down from more than 10 feet - but they are very graceful creatures.

View attachment 698789

MoKelly

Thing is, this one cat will be on the first floor and lay on the floor and the dogs don't really bother it other than sniff it. The other cat won't touch the first floor unless he knows all the dogs are outside.

We found this cat as a kitten when my wife and I were walking, and the thing was so dang docile. Took it to the vets for a check up, and it was hellion on wheels, I really couldn't believe the change of demeanor.

Same cat (in the pic) inside with dogs, cat looks like it's on valium and doesn't have a care in the world. Take it outside around the dogs, and the (cat) thing turns into rambo. I've seen that cat jump 5 feet in the air and in mid trajectory, turn around, hiss and show it's claws towards a dog. Kind of like a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide when it's outside. Just interesting behavior that I've never noticed before.

 

[Sigarms]

I've never seen a cat skeleton in a tree either. I did see the FD remove one from a utility pole though, after it touched the wrong 2 wires.

Happens with stupid people as well

Even better with stupid people trying to steel copper, because no one can prosecute stupidity of a thief, but you can prosecute people who shoot at thieves depending on the situation (go figure).

 

[Jstpssng]

Happens with stupid people as well

THAT one hurts though, as it could have been me. Years ago when I was young and foolish, I was working for a tree service clearing lines. We were sent out to do 16 miles of phone line which had multiple trees across it. In one case the tree was heavy enough so that the phone line was on the ground, so the foreman told me to hold the wire so that it didn't know his saw into his face when it released.
You probably know what happened... one second I was standing there holding the cable watching him make his cut. The next thing that I knew I was dangling above the ground from the wire, with the foreman screaming at me. The groundman said that it lifted me up right to the end of my arms, if I hadn't held on it would have launched me like a slingshot. Luckily for me there were no power lines in the poles.