cats

I've seen one of mine doing the same:

(She's the inspector. She makes sure that everything is correct. Which things? Yes.)

She can also go down just fine. I never saw how - I've seen her on the stairs and then walking on the floor as usual, but if I'm nearby when she's on the stairs she meows insistently for help.

I had a cat who would climb a fully vertical wooden ladder both ways to get up into and down from a loft. He used the bars, even, and didn't just dig into the side supports.

But can they climb down?

I had one who could jump to the top of the fridge from a dead standstill. (About 6 feet [2m] vertical). First time I saw her up there I assumed she used the counter as an intermediate step. Nope. It was like she just turned off gravity for a moment.

When we found her she was a kitten who had gotten trapped in our garage. Half feral and scared. I swear she was doing 9 foot parkour jumps along the walls when she saw us.

She's 14 now so she's slowed down a bit, but she has no issues with a human-chest-high jump.

Cats are neat.

We've got our ladders stacked by a vent in the garage and every time I take out the trash one of our cats is in top of the ladders peeking at me through the vent.

Thank you so much for sharing this. For a second I got to see through your eyes and enjoy the joy wonder of the unexpected discovery, and it was delightful and surprising. Don't let anyone make you feel stupid. Thanks for the reminder that we can always see something new!

Just wanted to say such a really cute cat. Give him some pets from me.