Photogenic Cats Love Hanging Out In Tree Tops

1. Is there anything sweeter than a ginger cat enjoying a summer breeze?

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Cat behaviorist Ingrid Johnson says that felines seek Height for various reasons. Sometimes it's about survival itself.

"Height provides comfort and security and the ability to survey a lot of territory from a single vantage point. Climbing a tree or a cat condo for our indoor only friends provides a sense of safety," Ingrid explained.

"Height also creates more usable territory and allows cats to avoid conflict with other cats. So an outdoor cat may climb a tree to escape an attacker (a rival neighborhood cat or a dog!), the same reason an indoor cat might bolt up a cat tree or perch on top of the kitchen cabinets if appropriate climbing places are not provided."

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"Cats are not squirrels," Ingrid said. "If you take a look at a cat's nail, it is hook-shaped, made for climbing, but they cannot come straight back down the tree. They would have to come down backwards, jump down, or descend using a series of branches like stairs."

When a cat chases its prey or is being pursued, it can climb up very high trees without low-lying branches. And often they get stuck.

"This is precisely why, when creating vertical space for your cats in your own home, that we are sure to not create dead-end spaces as they can be points of aggression in multi-cat homes and that we also create a way for them to descend, especially if we have provided them with a tall scratch pole."

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Felines can also pursue their prey (squirrels, chipmunks, or birds) up a tree. But they also climb to take a nap, hang out, or just for fun. "They condition their claws and muscles by scratching and climbing. We call these 'feel-good' behaviors. In fact, many indoor cats never get a chance to condition/hone their back claws because few cat condo companies provide a straight vertical pole to climb."

Ingrid continued: "Which is exactly why my husband, Jake and I provide the market with a six-foot, wall mounted scratch pole. There are virtually none on the market, we have multiples of these in our home, and our cats climb them regularly. It is a great way to mimic a tree for an indoor cat. Just always be sure to provide a way for them to get down."

Ingrid also confirmed that cats have more difficulties climbing out of trees than up them.

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Ironically, what makes felines fantastic at climbing up trees makes them very bad at coming back down to the ground.

“A cat in a tree may have trouble coordinating their hind and front feet when they try to back down. It’s just not a movement cats normally do,” feline ethologist Susan Bulanda, says. That is why it’s easier for cats to jump down from high places instead of climbing down.

It’s so weird that cats enjoy trees so much but are lousy at getting down from them.

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Cats have powerful hind legs and strong backs, and that makes them real climbing machines. Their instinct tells them always to take the high ground. So we shouldn’t be surprised they spend so much time in treetops.

Climbing is an offensive move that enables them to spot their prey easier. On the other hand, its also a defensive move because cats are not exactly on the top of the food chain, or the strongest animals around.

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