You know, I'm not so sure about that. That's what I always thought, but someone recently explained to me that a cat's claws grow in such a manner that it's easy to climb a tree, but not to come down it. Hope they're wrong.
We have had countless outdoor cats over the years. The yard is full of 80+ foot tall trees. Almost every day, you would see a couple in a few different trees for what ever reason. A few would sleep in the tree at night, and come down in the day to eat. Others would be up in the trees looking for birds. Sometimes you would see five or six in one tree.
In the past 30 some years, I would have to say that we have had ZERO cats we have had to rescue out of the trees.
They can be 60 feet up in the tree and they will be at the base before you make it there, if they want to greet you. If they don’t come down, then they evidently don’t want to.