Sebastian and Bella

Sebastian

Sebastian was the first of two rescues on this afternoon. Sebastian is a four-year-old Ragdoll boy in St. Francisville who climbed 55 feet high in a Pine tree in his front yard and got stuck there. He had been there for two nights, including a rainy one, by the time I arrived. I was hoping that Sebastian would live up to the friendly and docile reputation of the breed, and, indeed, he represented the breed very well. In spite of the almost-angry impatience with which he waited for me to reach him, he greeted me happily as if we were old friends. Getting him into the carrier required neither patience nor enticement, as he reached to step inside even as I was still moving the carrier up to him. He stepped all the way inside and settled in as if knowing that it would be only a few more minutes before he would be back down on the ground. Even after a rough ride through a gauntlet of vines that had invaded the tree, he was still calm enough on the ground to be released there, and Kaitlin scooped him up into her arms and carried him inside.







Bella

As soon as I finished with Sebastian, I drove straight back to Baton Rouge to meet Sam and Ashely and rescue their cat, Bella. Bella is a very sweet, seven-month-old black kitty with a little bit of white on her chest. Bella was stuck about 30 feet high in a Sweetgum tree in her own backyard and had already spent one night there. Just like Sebastian an hour earlier, Bella greeted me happily. Even though I was a stranger to her, she knew I was her ticket home. After the usual greetings, I held the carrier up to her to see if she would go inside. This is the first time I have ever attempted to use a carrier that I had not first cleaned, and I did not know if she would be deterred by the scent of Sebastian who had been in there just an hour or two earlier. I gave her time to sniff the carrier to her satisfaction, and, after about a minute, she stepped all the way inside. I could almost hear her say, "I don't care who was in here; I am not going to miss my ride home." I closed the door and brought her down. We took her inside to release her, and she quickly settled back into her territory and routine.