The title is a bit brutal for a cat lover but if we try and answer the question the answer has to be “none”. Of course that does not mean there are none but I think you’ll agree that none is the right answer.
There is quite a lot of stuff on the internet about cats being stuck in trees, unable, apparently, to get down. The fire service (firefighters) in some locations won’t respond to a call from someone with a request to get a cat out of a tree. The reason is the balance between benefit and downside; the benefits don’t outweigh the downsides according to the firefighters.
While the firefighters are getting the cat down they could be doing something else. And every rescue carries some risk for the firefighters. And the argument is that a cat in a tree will get down when ready. I see that. But don’t get me wrong. I am just being rational and logical. Personally I would rescue all the cats in all the trees, but do they need rescuing?
How long do you wait for a cat to come down? I think the answer is long enough. There is always the common sense solution which is to encourage movement by putting the most palatable and smelly food at the base of the tree. Favorite cat food is a great motivator to a cat.
It has always surprised me why a cat climbs a tree that he can’t get down. Cats shouldn’t do that sort of thing. I would expect a cat to have an inbuilt guide that informs him as to how far he can go up a tree.
However, it is possible that domestic cats have lost that natural ability. I am absolutely sure that wild cats of any species will never get stuck up a tree. Why should domestic cats? The only answer is because they are domesticated and have lost their skills. Or is it the case that they are not really stuck?
Are we getting the time frame wrong? Are we jumping into action too soon to get a cat down?
Also I wonder if the reason why a cat stays in a tree is because he is frightened about something on the ground, in his home or near his home. Staying up a tree does not automatically mean that the cat physically can’t get down, that he is frightened to get down. Perhaps he has decided to stay there because it is safer.
I think we have to respect the decisions of firefighters to not come out to rescue cats no matter how harsh it seems. I have to say that I have changed my mind because at one time I felt that firefighters should always come out to rescue cats from trees.
Note: this article has been republished to bring it forward from the archive which is why the comments are dated 2012.
We have very tall old trees behind our gardens here and when Jozef was only around 10 months old he ran up one, he kept going until he was about 30 feet up then sat perched on a branch looking down at me. I was frantic! We had trees at our old home too and our cats had often gone up them but never so high.
I phoned my sister and late brother in law to come and stay guard while I tried to borrow a long ladder, but they just got here and Jozef decided to come down. He made it look really easy, but he has never been up so high again in his 11 years thank goodness lol
I’d have paid the Fire Brigade to get him down had it come to that.
Sometimes I wonder if his kitty mom would have taught him tree climbing skills and maybe I took him from her before he got those lessons. When Monty got stuck in the high tree I was on the ground pantomiming how he should go butt first. I can only hope that none of the neighbors saw that. Or worse yet, took a little movie of it.
I feel so happy that he is climbing trees in a nice safe garden. That is such a nice environment. He has a good life, little Monty. Although I’ll have to enroll him on the tree climbing course.
I think everyone should get one. One time for the fire department to get your cat out of a tree. After that, you have to pay for the service. Once Monty got stuck in a really high tree, where Jeff had to get a ladder to get him down, we put chicken wire in a cone about six feet up and now he can’t go up there anymore. Any tree that he can get completely stuck in is wired off so he can’t get up there. He kind of has a pattern where he goes now, the same trees, to the same height every day. I hope he stays that way and I don’t have to block off anymore trees. Don’t tell Monty about the Norwegian Forest Cat racing down thirty feet of tree head first. He’d be tempted to try it. That is sort of what he does, but from about six feet up.
Great comment. Fair enough. Seems I have been out argued 😉 If domestic cats can’t figure out how to get down a tree they have climbed it is a sorry state of affairs. I think someone should start a “Tree Climbing School For Cats”. It would be a one week residential course 🙂
Incidentally I had a Norwegian Forest Cat (NFC) mix for four glorious years and she could climb down (race down) a tree from 30 feet up headfirst. No kidding. Amazing. NFC’s are good at tree climbing we are told.