Why Cats Climb and Get Stuck in Trees

Not all cats like climbing trees, but I’ve known many that do and I’m sharing a few of their secrets of what not to do.

Lumi climbed a tree the other day, and I happened to be sitting right beside it with my phone in hand. I watched the whole decision unfold, the look up, the little repositioning of paws, then she just went for it like a pro.

She has happily lived with us now for six months and as time goes by, she reminds me more and more like our dearly departed Odin, who was a master tree climber.

There was no tree that he couldn’t master. I can recall only one time he got stumped and I thought I was gonna have to go get a ladder, but even in that instance, he finally figured it out.

I posted Lumi’s video on Instagram and it did better than almost anything else I’ve shared in months so I thought I’d share it here in case you haven’t seen it.

It got me thinking about why cats climb the way they do, and why coming down is always the harder than they expect.

Built to Go Up, Not Down

A cat’s claws curve backward, which makes climbing up almost effortless. But that same curve works against them coming down.

To descend headfirst, a cat has to twist its back paws nearly 180 degrees just to get any grip, which is why you’ll often see cats climb down backward, tail-first instead. It’s not elegant. It’s also exactly why so many cats get stuck.

The Cats Who Stayed Up

Most of my cats including Otto have used trees the way Lumi does, a quick sprint up, a minute of surveying the world, then back down. It’s a game more than a destination. But a few of my cats, years apart, decided otherwise.

Odin was a serious climber, the kind who treated a tree less like a game and more like a second home. I have lots of photos of him working his way up, branch by branch, completely at ease with the height in a way most cats never quite manage.

And having one eye, never interfered with his balance or his ability to enjoy trees.

How Cats Climb Trees

Two of my cats got really stuck

Phyliss, ginger tabby that my first husband got custody of, climbed a telephone pole, the flat-topped kind, and stayed there all night. I called the fire department, fully expecting the classic rescue scene. Turns out that’s an old wives’ tale, they don’t come for cats in trees.

She came down entirely on her own around twelve hours later. I would’ve loved to see how she tackled that one without having any branches.

The other, my Siamese girl Coco, the sibling of my dear Merlin went missing for two days back when I lived in Canada.

I made flyers, canvassed the neighborhood, and finally a man told me he’d seen a cat up a tree just down the street, in front of a house where I’d already left a flyer.

Why she never responded when I was calling her name not 50 feet away, I’ll never know. There she was, stuck high up for two days.

No fire department this time either, so I found someone with a ladder well over twenty feet long, and since nobody else wanted to climb it. I am no fan of heights and I’ve never been on a ladder that high, but when you’re a cat mom, you do what you have to do.

It didn’t occur to me to wear gloves or anything protective and I gingerly climbed up step-by-step (calmly I think) calling her name. I scruffed her, held her out at arm’s length so she couldn’t scratch me, and made the whole descent with an audience of neighbors watching from the ground cheering.

This was way before social media and of course the last thing I was thinking of was to photographer video it but of course if it happened today, somebody would’ve captured it on film.

I adored her and used to call her the dumb blonde of cats. But she learned her lesson. In fact, she never climbed another tree even when she watched her brother, happily climbing trees on our new property, in a new country.

A Few Fun Facts

• Most tree-climbing mishaps happen with indoor/outdoor cats exploring, not escaping danger. Curiosity, not fear.

• Kittens and younger cats climb higher and get stuck more often. Confidence outpaces their descending skills.

• A cat that’s stuck but not distressed will often work it out on their own, given enough time.

Lumi’s version stays simple: sprint up, look around, down again pronto. I’m grateful for her wisdom.

Do you have any interesting cat climbing stories to share? Please leave a comment.