Cats in nature have learned the advantages of an elevated position over millions of years. It is ideal for surveying for ground-based and flighted prey, and also offers a place of safety from large terrestrial predators.
When house cats are under competitive pressure from others or perceive that there are dangers within their territory, they will often seek out an elevated position up a tree, on a wall or on a roof.
Cats apparently stuck in trees usually are not. They have often been pursued by other cats or chased by dogs, and in the panic to survive have taken refuge in the highest position they can find. The cat will often choose the least safe branch in terms of the weight that it will take: this strategy means that the chasing animal has to calculate the cost of aggression against the risk to its own safety. In this situation, the cat is under great stress and its adrenalin levels will be high, to enhance its ‘flight or fight’ behaviours. Once the cat deems itself to be no longer under threat and adrenalin levels have subsided naturally, it will often be perfectly able to back down the tree slowly and carefully.
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment