# Will a cat always come down out of tree or can they die up there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452 "2009-11-21T21:06:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/41 "2015-08-13T13:01:29Z")
> [@ceileen](#): > > My cat is currently up in a tall pine and has been there for 2 days. I am 300 miles away from her and cannot help, and though she likes her caregivers, all their efforts to call and woo her down have not worked. She’s too scared. More drastic measures have not worked, either, and there is no arborist or fire dept who will help. She’s too far up for a person to get to her. I’m really starting to worry. > > What I don’t understand is, why she and many other cats don’t simply climb down backwards? Raccoons are less equipped for such claw-grappling, yet they seem to have no problem clambering backwards when they have to. I’ve seen _baby_ raccoons do this, as well as adults. So what gives with cats who won’t even try? It’s not nearly as scary as trying to jump from branch to branch when the branches are 10 feet apart! > > Really, does someone have a cat psychology answer to this? Well, two days isn’t _that_ long. When she gets hungry enough is when they get up the nerve to come back down. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/42 "2015-08-13T13:29:41Z")
“Don’t use the rifle, you might miss…use a shotgun!” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/43 "2015-08-13T13:45:12Z")
You don’t find cat skeletons in trees. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/44 "2015-08-13T13:58:12Z")
> [@ceileen](#): > > Really, does someone have a cat psychology answer to this? Grief/Abandonment Syndrome? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/45 "2015-08-13T14:09:16Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > You don’t find cat skeletons in trees. That’s because when they become zombies, they just fall out of they tree and lumber away. ---
**Author:** ![Bert\_Nobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@Bert\_Nobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bert_Nobbins)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/46 "2015-08-13T14:21:36Z")
Data point: I have seen my cat descend a palm tree trunk by starting off head-down, then using the front claws as a pivot so he swung round and was head-up. There followed an untidy but successful descent. I’d never seen that manoeuvre before. ---
**Author:** ![ceileen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@ceileen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ceileen)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/47 "2015-08-13T14:33:28Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > That’s because when they become zombies, they just fall out of they tree and lumber away. No skeletons in trees: The cat probably weakens and falls. If it survives the fall, it will crawl off and die. Injured cats hide. That’s one of the reasons that a cat will disappear and never come home—it hid somewhere and died. Also, once dead, crows, ravens and vultures swiftly dispose of the remains. And a big hawk or eagle would not be adverse to snatching a sufficiently weakened cat from its perch. ---
**Author:** ![ceileen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@ceileen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ceileen)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/48 "2015-08-13T14:43:16Z")
> [@Bert\_Nobbins](#): > > Data point: I have seen my cat descend a palm tree trunk by starting off head-down, then using the front claws as a pivot so he swung round and was head-up. There followed an untidy but successful descent. > > I’d never seen that manoeuvre before. Maybe that’s how they discover that, yes, they _can_ climb down backwards? I hope so. Even an accidental discovery of this skill by the pivot method would help her. I do understand the “wait until they get hungry approach.” It makes sense that desperation leads to courage in such cases. I just wouldn’t want her to remain up there so long that she becomes too weak from dehydration to have the strength to try. The temps are high there. She’s been a house cat all her life, with nothing taller to climb than a bookcase. The place she’s staying at has provided her with her first taste of the real outdoors. She didn’t elect to climb this tree for fun. We think she got scared into it by something—a large wild animal most likely, or a neighbor’s loose dog. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/49 "2015-08-13T15:23:57Z")
At least you know where your cat is. The worst thing is when they’re simply missing. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/50 "2015-08-13T16:24:54Z")
That happened to a friend of mine’s cat one time. 30 feet up in a damn pine tree for 3 days. Another friend was good at climbing trees so he shimmied up to the limb the cat was on and the plan was to drop him down to me on the ground. I didn’t anticipate the consequences of dropping a scared cat, claws first, from 30 feet up, but I caught him with only minor scratches and he walked away unimpressed as cats are wont to do. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/51 "2015-08-13T16:54:51Z")
> [@ceileen](#): > > No skeletons in trees: Welcome **ceileen**. The zombie reference is what we call old dead threads that get revived by someone doing a google search on a particular topic, joining to respond to the old dead thread, thus reviving it. Many people will not pay attention to dates of earlier posts and then start commenting or replying to someone that hasn’t been on this site in years and in some cases a decade or more. Again welcome to the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452/52 "2015-08-13T17:04:53Z")
If it still up there, about the only way to get it down is to cut the tree down and hope she’s agile enough to avoid injury. Or do something to make the tree MUCH less attractive. Have no idea what tools you have available - a fire hose might work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-cat-always-come-down-out-of-tree-or-can-they-die-up-there/518452.md?page=2)