Blue

Blue is a six-year-old Russian Blue kitty who has never been outside, but on this one night, he escaped and found himself in a scary world. His instinct told him to find a safe place to go, so he climbed one of the many Pine trees in front of him. He kept climbing until he was about 45 feet high and came to rest there. He was safe but scared. Charlie and his family found him in the morning and tried to figure out how to get him down, and it was Charlie's daughter, Joyce, who found me. I arrived there late that afternoon at their home in Pumpkin Center and found Blue crying pitifully and constantly at his perch indicated in the picture by the lower red circle.

I had a good bit of trouble installing my rope, and when I finally succeeded in doing so, the sun was almost ready to set. I climbed up to Blue slowly and carefully because I could hear how distressed he was. I was pleased that he remained in place while I very slowly approached him, and when I was close enough to reach my hand out to him, he sniffed it. He was still clearly distressed, but I was encouraged that he had not climbed higher. I could not yet reach him to touch him, so I slowly inched up a little higher to get within reach. With his body on the opposite side of the trunk, only his head was now within reach, but he would not lean forward to sniff my hand anymore.

I decided to try to calm him down by offering him some food and make it more clear to him that I was friendly. I pulled up the carrier to get the food which was inside, but when I did so, he became frightened by it. That surprised me, because Charlie told me that Blue had never been in a carrier before. Perhaps it wasn't the carrier that frightened Blue, but whatever it was, he looked up and climbed higher another 20 feet to get away. He came to rest in a crotch about 65 feet high where indicated in the picture by the upper red circle.

I gave Blue some time to calm down a bit and then began to climb up to him. Again, I climbed slowly and calmly, and Blue stayed in place while I approached him. He let me get close enough to reach out to him, and this time his body was within reach. He was still distressed and would not sniff my hand, so I touched his back with gentle petting and scratching. That seemed to calm him down, though he was still distressed.


I prepared the bag on my arm and got a little closer to him. I calmed him down with some more petting, and I massaged his neck. When I felt it was safe to do so, I grabbed his scruff and pulled him off his perch while pulling the bag over him. He fussed but did not fight, and once settled in the bag, he was quiet for the ride back down to the ground.

Back on the ground, I handed him to Charlie who took him inside to release him. Blue was relieved to be back home, and, after sniffing around a bit, he settled in and acted as if nothing had happened.