So our dog chased a cat up a 30’ tall maple tree. Currently, it’s at the VERY TOP of the tree swinging on a spindly branch apparently for dear life. The dog is back inside and the cat keeps looking fearfully at the ground like it doesn’t know how to get down and is afraid of falling.
Is there anything I need to do (visions of little old ladies calling the fire department fill my head) or will the cat just eventually work up the courage to climb down and/or fall? Thanks in advance.
Keep the dog away and the cat will find its way down. You won’t find a lot of cat skeletons in trees.
You might find a few on the ground beneath tall trees, however.
Well, that’s what we’re worried about.
They usually climb down. That said, it is conceivable that it could get stuck or lose its shit and then you have to call the people (or the fire department, a.k.a. whoever has a long ladder) to get it down:
I have had to call a pro once for a cat stuck on a roof, and once I rescued a cat from a construction site myself (pro tip: make sure the freaking-out cat is safely restrained while climbing down).
My ex-husband used to say that. It worked until one time when we saw a dead raccoon in a tree. It was there for a few days and then it wasn’t. I assume scavengers found it. And that’s why you wouldn’t see a cat skeleton in a tree!
I used to have a cat who’d get stuck up in trees, and we’d call a tree service to take him down. They didn’t charge us, but we’d pay them anyway, of course.
According to a scene in the famous Steve Martin cat documentary “Roxanne,” if you open up a can of cat food and put it under the tree the cat will come down.
First step: remove dog (which you’ve done); open can of tuna; place tuna at bottom of tree; go away (in case cat is also afraid of you; or, alternatively, wants to engage you in a tree-climbing game, though this doesn’t seem like a case of that.)
If cat is still up tree a couple of hours later, cat may actually be stuck. Most cats can get themselves down from a tree, but a few can’t. I think they have to learn how as kittens, when they’re nearly weightless and can climb anything; I’ve known a couple of instances in which a cat genuinely needed to be rescued (one, many years ago, turned out to be a neighbor’s young cat and the neighbor turned out to be quite a treeclimber herself; the other was stuck not all that far off the ground and I was able to reach her from an orchard ladder.)
The cat does not appear to be stuck in any way apart from fear. So would tuna be the best ‘bait’ to put at the base of the tree?
I’m thinking that the terrified cat went much farther up the tree than he would have otherwise. The fact that he is as far up as he could go seems to indicate that. If he falls from that height, he will be severely injured at best and killed at worst.
I’d still call it worth a try. But if the cat’s in the same spot still (now about three hours later?) and the spot doesn’t look comfortable, it may really be stuck. Going up is easier than going down for a cat because of the angle of the claws – going down has to be done backwards so the claws can get a grip, and not all cats seem to know this; plus which, if the cat is out really far on a thin branch, it may be afraid of losing its grip if it tries to turn around.
Maybe you should call for assistance.
Per Canopy Cat Rescue:
We have rescued cats that have been stuck for over two weeks; it doesn’t seem that hunger is a strong reason for the cat to try to climb down a tree. We don’t recommend putting food out at the base of the tree; chances are that your cat won’t be able to see or smell the food and it will likely attract other animals/wildlife to the base of the tree.
Last Spring a neighbour’s cat was stuck about 60 feet up a cedar. He cried pitifully – in the rain – for two days. My wife couldn’t take it anymore and called Canopy Cat Rescue. We also gave CCR’s information to the neighbours. Canopy Cat Rescue said to just leave the cat up the tree for another day (in the rain), and if it still didn’t come down to call them again. ‘By no means call anyone to attempt a rescue, because the cat may be frightened into jumping and die.’ My wife lost her shit. Our tree guy rescues cats for a ‘donation’. She called him. He came out, climbed the tree, and rescued the cat quite easily. My wife gave him al lthe cash she had, which was $300. He was not expecting so much, but she gave it all to him. The neighbours didn’t know she’d paid him. Some time later I saved the cat from being eaten by a coyote. (I yelled at the coyote, which stopped to look at me.) We haven’t seen the cat in a while.
Update: the cat actually managed to move/slide to a thicker more stable part of the branch about a foot lower and is now clinging to that. There’s currently about 3 inches of snow on the ground and I estimate the cat is about 28 feet up.
[above quoted by Johnny_L.A, not written by them]
i’ve seen a cat look down at the food and lick its lips. I suppose it might depend on the size of the tree; but I strongly suspect they can smell tuna from quite some distance (that’s part of the reason why tuna is a good thing to try). And I know they can hear a can being opened from several rooms away; though a feral cat might not know what the sound means. A feral cat’s pretty unlikely to get stuck in a tree, though – they learn to climb, both directions, or they don’t survive past young kittenhood. A grown or mostly-grown cat stuck in a tree is almost certainly one that didn’t spend its kittenhood outside with its mother.
ETA:
That’s encouraging; the cat’s less likely to fall imminently.
I would try the tuna, opening it where the cat can see you doing that; and then put it down and go back inside, again in case the cat’s afraid of you. Give it another hour or so and then look to see where the cat is; maybe it’ll at least have worked its way down to where an ordinary ladder (if you have or can borrow one) will let you reach it. Wear gloves if so! and watch your face – a frightened cat may scratch, if only while trying to get a grip on you instead of the tree. If the cat retreats up the tree if it sees you going up, go back down and leave the ladder up. Some cats – not all – can climb ladders in both directions.
You might in the meantime call around the neighbors, if you know their numbers, and try to identify the cat – it might be more likely to come down to, or at least not retreat from, a familiar human.
Sardines.
It works.
They stinky. Cats have better noses than we do. She’ll smell it.
Good luck.
How’s it going ?
Final update:
I placed a 12’ ladder and can of tuna at the top of a branch near the ladder last evening. The kitty was still up in the tree when I checked at 22:30 last night. Temperatures were in the mid 30s overnight. A light rain occurred in the early hours. When I checked at 06:00, however, the kitty was gone. A search of tracks in the snow revealed that kitty decided to jump from the branch he was hanging in and never bothered to approach the tuna or ladder. A set of tracks led from the jump landing location directly to a fence where the tracks disappear presumably as the kitty jumped onto the fence when leaving our yard. Evidently, even after a scary encounter with a German Shepherd, 12-17 hours in a tree, and a jump/fall of over 25 feet, kitty retained enough athletic capacity to go fence hopping.
Glad to hear this all worked out.
Proving yet again that felines totally rock!! 
Thanks for being humane!