What to do if your cat gets stuck in a tree

There may be no more idyllic trope than the housecat stuck in a tree. It’s the standard by which all Rockwellian neighborhoods are measured, and the quickest route to suburban heroism.

But does it really need to involve the fire department? Certainly there’s an alternative to an engine full of first responders for coaxing a 12-pound tabby out of a maple, oak, or pine.

“It’s somewhat normal for cats to climb trees,” says Patrick Brandt, owner of Piedmont Tree Climbing near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who regularly retrieves stranded cats. “And sometimes people freak out because they can’t get to their cat right away, so they assume it’s in distress and is not going to be able to get down, which isn’t usually the case.”

Brandt says there are at least three options for getting Simba back to earth without a call to 911. But before we let them out of the bag, it helps to understand why cats end up in trees to begin with.

Why do cats run up trees?

Cats are well chronicled on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram acting like jerks, but that’s not generally why they journey to higher altitudes.

“Cats typically go into a tree because they’re either curious or because they’re scared, which is probably more likely,” Brandt says. “So, they’re often running away from something.”

Dogs, sudden noises, and other cats are common triggers, but felines are natural predators themselves, so it’s possible a cat is running toward birds, squirrels, or other backyard fauna.

Cats are also famously territorial and may simply use the high ground to better survey their surroundings. Either way, their motivation in re-tree-ting is biologically coded for survival.

Why can’t cats get down from trees?

They can, they simply take their sweet time, often with good reason. It starts as a matter of physiology: Just as it’s anatomically easier to run uphill than down, cats find it easier to climb up a tree than clamber down one.

“Cats, unlike squirrels, for example, can’t turn their wrists,” Brandt says. They can charge head-first up a tree because they’ve got sharp, hooked claws, but to come down they have to go the way they came. “That means engaging and disengaging their claws, one at a time, as they back their way down the tree.”

The next obstacle is psychological: “Cats usually don’t come down until they feel it’s safe on the ground, and that’s usually at dawn or dusk,” Brandt adds. It takes a hunter to know a hunter, and cats know the patience of the predator. So, they’ll come down when they’re sure that the coast is clear.

Wait 24-48 hours. Image: Getty Images blue_sky95

3 ways to get your cat out of a tree

Before you enlist a firefighter, try these alternatives for fishing your cat out of a ficus.

1. Wait

You love your kitty like you love your family, and you wouldn’t leave your uncle stuck in a tree, so of course you’re going to want to immediately spring into action. Resist the urge.

“People sometimes call me and I ask them, ‘How long has your cat been in the tree?’ They’re like, ‘Oh, 20 minutes.’ Almost always I’ll tell them to wait 24 hours,” Brandt says. “They either text me back an hour later or the next day and say, ‘OK, you were right. The cat came down.’”

As Brandt noted, cats will often wait to come down at dawn or dusk, when it’s safest to do so. “By waiting 24 hours, you have a couple of those cycles for the cat to come down on its own, when it’s just getting dark or just lightening up and they can see things better.”

There’s another advantage to waiting for your cat to come down on its own: he or she now knows they can do it, which is better for them in the long run.

There are, however, reasons not to wait.

“If it’s an indoor cat that has never been outside… and you’re not sure if it knows how to find its way back” or the cat is hurt or pregnant, you may need to respond with urgency.

Should your cat still not find its way down after 24 to 48 hours, it’s time to advance to the next option because its health is now a concern. Brandt says cats have endured as many as three weeks in a tree, but not without rain.

“Sometimes, even after they’re rescued, cats don’t survive because they’re so dehydrated,” he says.

2. Call a professional

When you lose a ring in your sink drain, do you want a jeweler or a plumber? Similarly, when you lose a cat in a tree, it turns out you want a specialist in trees more than a specialist in cats.

“I’m more of a tree expert or an arborist, but I love cats,” Brandt says. “They often see the person who’s coming up as part of the danger they’re trying to run away from, and an experienced cat rescuer is going to be able to read the cat from the ground.”

Many arborists understand cat behavior and are used to fielding calls from owners anxious about their tree-bound tabbies.

“There’s lots of different things that an experienced cat rescuer learns the hard way, what to do or what not to do,” Brandt says. Many of them around the world can be found in the Directory of Cat Rescuers.

While he says a cat will typically settle in around 30 to 50 feet up a tree, Brandt has rescued cats as high as 80 feet. Any more altitude and you’re going to have to rent a chopper.

3. Rescue the cat yourself

If you have a stable ladder or are skilled at climbing trees… are you sure you want to do this? OK, then also be sure you do the following.

Set up your ladder correctly

Ensure a level base. If positioning the ladder on dirt, dig, clear, or pack the earth to make it even.

Secure contact with the tree’s trunk. Strap the side rails of the ladder to the tree. (Leaning a ladder against a branch is highly dangerous and should be avoided.)

Follow the 4:1 ratio. Station the ladder’s base one foot away from the tree for every four feet of height between the ground and the point of contact.

Bring the cat a proverbial bag

Whether you use a ladder or you monkey your way up the tree, you need to be able to commit both hands to the task of climbing down with the cat, making a bag or carrier essential.

“Trying to come down a ladder with a cat who’s freaking out or climbing on your shoulder and ripping you up, not a good idea,” Brandt says.

That can mean something as common as a laundry bag or pillowcase, which should be held over the cat as you scruff its neck and pull the bag down around it.

Just don’t open it until the cat’s safely in the house. “Many owners will be so excited that their cat is safe that they open the bag and then the cat runs right back up the tree,” Brandt says.

Bribe the cat

One of Brandt’s go-to’s if the cat seems skittish is to ask the owner if it has a favorite food, which he’ll bring up into the tree. “Sometimes, just shaking a bag of treats or the smell of the food will earn you the cat’s trust,” he says.

One common mistake he doesn’t recommend, however, is leaving food at the base of the tree as a lure. “If the cat is scared because another cat or [creature] has been bullying it, you’re just going to get a bunch of raccoons, possums, and gnarly cats fighting over the food.”

Get in the cat’s head

If the cat is meowing, Brandt says that’s a good sign. If, however, as you start climbing, the cat gets quiet and retreats farther outward on the limb or aims to climb higher, try beating it to those upper branches so that instead of it being scared up the tree, it can be scared down it.

Most galling, Brandt says, is, surprise!, uninformed guidance on social media.

“There’s always some person who says, ‘Well, have you ever seen a skeleton in a tree?’” he recounts, the implication being that cats always find their way down. But that’s not always true.

“That’s such an invalidating comment,” Brandt says. “Cats are like parts of the family, and the fact is cats have fallen out of trees and died, so if it’s been more than 24 or 48 hours, a human does have to intervene if they care about the life of the cat because cats do succumb to nature.”

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