Cat Trees and Houses

My cat likes to climb on his house, my house and especially to climb trees and I love to watch it shimming up the trunk and climbing so dexterously out onto the branches. The only problem is that it often gets stuck up in the tree and getting it down can become quite a problem. I didn't understand why this was a problem at first and so did some asking around and what I learnt was very interesting. We all know that one of the most outstanding features of a cat is its ability to jump. The first thing a cat does is observe very closely the place it wants to jump to, whether this be up or down, in order to calculate the distance and exact angle it wants to jump. A cat is able to jump upwards five times its own height. If you have a cat at home you have probably enjoyed this special talent. Cats jump with a lot of elegance and it often seems that no matter what the distance, they do so without hurting themselves.

However, jumping downwards is a little more difficult for them. Most cats try to shorten the distance when they have to jump down. They usually do this putting their front paws as close as possible to their target, and then push themselves using their hind legs. When cats want to come down from a tree they often back down part way and then making a half turn with the front of their body and pushing off from the tree with their back legs jump down. Cats sometimes appear to not be able to come down from trees. However, it's best to let the cat remain in this predicament for a little while since in some cases the cat seems to enjoy the attention and it might be pretending to not be able to come down in order to get its owners attention (along with the whole neighborhood).