Went off looking for Gus#1 today and rethought the brief story of that cat, named Gus, who loved to climb junipers. That brought back memories. My first was Puffer, an all-white cat with blue eyes. She would grit her teeth and squeeze her eyes closed and allow small kids to pull her up by the tail, and she was quick at evading predators or noisier animals. We knew nothing of cats' medical needs back then, and as a result, Puffer eventually contracted an incurable disease and died - a neurological disease that a simple shot would have prevented. Nonetheless, there were some benefits to that veterinarial naiveté: she raised two litters, so at various times we had kittens scurrying throughout the house.
Puffer's climbing was never tree-specie specific, but simply whatever branch or trunk was available to hide or escape from a predator. And though she sometimes climbed high if an attacker was particularly scary, she more often stopped just a few feet above his highest jump level to tease him, particularly if he made a lot of furocious noise and growling - behavior inapproproiate for a true hunter, as it's not only a waste of energy, but alerts other potential game. "Come on, try it again, guy!", her look down would seem to say. Coyotes and mountain lions, of course, know to keep quiet when after a cat.
