Flo

Patricia describes herself as "not a cat person," but she clearly has a big heart.  Cats just seem to appear at her house, and Patricia is just about the only one in the area who will take care of them.  So it was with this new black cat which showed up just two or three weeks ago.  She appears to be young, probably less than a year old, and, while her past is a mystery, she seems to think her future lies with Patricia.  Attempts to find the owner have been unsuccessful, so Patricia continues to care for her but has not gone so far as to name her.  Until she does, I will just call her Flo.

Flo has already become stuck in a tree before, but Patricia's husband was able to get her down by using a ladder.  This time, however, Flo was out of reach of the ladder, so Patricia searched the web until she found me.  I arrived there to find Flo only 15 feet high on the lowest branch of a large pine tree.  Since Patricia told me that Flo was very friendly, I was expecting this to be an easy rescue.

Flo called out to me as I planned and prepared my approach. This was a good sign, and she continued to remain mostly relaxed even as I installed the line climbing line above her.  While this was all very promising, I can never be sure just how cooperative she will be until I get up there with her.

Flo continued to speak to me while I climbed up to her, and she remained in place.  She was not distressed by my approach at all.  Once I was within reach, I stretched out my hand to her and let her sniff.  She let me touch her and pet her, and, with that, we both relaxed a bit.

I wanted to bring her down in the carrier, so I first offered her some food.  She sniffed it and took a few bites.  I placed the food in the back end of the carrier and held the open carrier in front of her, but this is was a line of cooperation that she was not willing to cross.  She rubbed her head on the carrier opening, she looked inside, she continued to talk me, but she would not go inside.

I put the carrier away and prepared to bag her instead.  After I put the gloved cat bag on one hand and arm, I again petted her and massaged her scruff.  As I gently scruffed her and began to lift her, she tensed up and stretched out her front legs to hold on to the branch.  I pulled the bag over her and secured her, while she complained only a little bit.

I brought her down to the ground, and while I had her in the bag, I wanted to scan her for a microchip.  Patricia held her while I retrieved my microchip reader and scanned her.  Not surprisingly, no chip was found.  We released her there on the ground, and she ran several feet away where she relieved her bladder for a very long time.  Then she was ready for some food.

After I packed up, I checked on her and she was still eating.  She will be fine now, and I know that Patricia will be looking out for her.  Thank you, Patricia, for having such a big heart.

Although I had my camera with me, the video is not worthwhile because I had trouble aiming it properly at the action, especially at the most critical moments.  Fortunately, however, I was able to use it to salvage some useful images of Flo.