# Can a kitten be taught to climb down a cat tree?



## tftftf (Sep 21, 2010)

Hello,
I posted a thread about some of the questions I had about my new kitten (10 weeks), but there was something in particular that I thought might warrant its own thread...

I have a Ares Ceiling Height Cat Tree, which I bought for my kitten to give her a bit more space to explore while I am at work.

When I first put it in the room she rather promptly clambered all the way to the top level and while she appeared very happy up there (purring etc, and would play with toys) she did not seem to be able to get down. To test this I put a full open can of tuna on the lower level and while she was craning her neck to get it she didn't seem to be able to figure out a route down.

This experience does not seem to have deterred her though, and for a few days she would climb right up to top and I would have to pick her up and carry her down to play with her and make sure she was eating.

Once day I came back from being at work all day and I am pretty sure she went straight up there and stayed there all day, since she hadn't eaten, and when I took her down she had a couple helpings of dry food, went to the loo, and had a drink in quick succession!

I have now take off the top few levels leaving only the bit that she slides/jumps down from, but does anyone have any experience or advise on how I can reintroduce the other levels?

Also, how do other people's cats/kittens get down from the very top of their trees? Do they just jump straight down? If so I might need to do something about the hard laminate flooring...

Any advice will be gratefully received...


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## Merenwenrago (Sep 5, 2010)

Have you tried showing her the route down or putting pieces of food she likes on each level?

My cats always slide down trees and scatching posts and normally jump the last bit at end


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## tftftf (Sep 21, 2010)

I tried putting food on the level directly below, but not all of them at once.

Do they slide down the struts face first, or backwards?

She seems to be ok going up and down a scratching post (I made a metre tall one out of the extra pieces (only to use supervised...), but not when there are levels in between.


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## Merenwenrago (Sep 5, 2010)

mine normally slide facedown with trees and stratching posts


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## Izzie999 (Nov 27, 2008)

Hi,

We had this one,please be careful because despite securing this to the ceiling my lovely maine coon boy managed to bring this scratcher down which resulted in a bad leg break and eight months recovery for him! 

Izzie


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## ibbica (Aug 9, 2010)

I can see that particular tree being very tough to get down. The posts are interrupted by bits jutting out, so there's no straight path down. To jump from one level down to the next, it looks like you'd have to swing underneath the level you're on. Not impossible, but definitely tough. I'm not surprised kitty's having a hard time.

Is there any way to offset or rotate the floor of each level, so kitty can jump from one down onto the next, without having to "swing" underneath the upper level? Or add angled ramps from the higher levels? Cats normally won't climb (or move, really) backwards, and their paws don't swivel like squirrels to allow them to "hang" upside-down, so they're left trying to run straight down without any real purchase, or jump from a very high ledge that can result in serious injury for a small kitten.


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