Cat Rescue Guy

Mojo is an all-black one year old male cat who got stuck very high in a tree in his own backyard.  So high, in fact, that he could not go any higher.  The limb he was on was supported by an almost vertical branch with no useful limbs, so going down was also impossible.  This photo shows his location in the tree; he is the tiny black spot which I circled in red.  This was going to be a challenging rescue. I had some difficulties getting my line in the tree and climbing up to him.  I climbed up to the point where the main trunk forks to the left and right.  At that point I was 16 feet below him, but I still had the most difficult part of the climb yet to do.  It took me a long time to get to that point, and I was tired and found myself making lots of mental mistakes.  At that point I decided it was not safe for me to continue, so I chose to abort the rescue attempt and come back the next day. The next morning I returned hoping that he had miraculously found his way down.  But, no, h

Kitty became my first repeat offender when he escaped and became stuck in a different tree just two weeks after his first rescue.  He was only 20 feet high and had been in the tree only one night.  Unlike his first rescue, however, this time he was not friendly or cooperative.  He seemed stressed and terrified of me and climbed slightly higher and out to the end of a branch where he stopped to cry and pant.  He had no interest in the food I offered him. The weather was threatening so we didn't have much time.  Since he wasn't cooperating, I used my net to reel him in.  He was 10 feet away from me, and I found it difficult to hold his weight at that distance, especially with the awkward position I put myself in.  He would not allow himself to fall all the way into the net, so I had to help him by prying his paws off the rim one by one.  Given how scared he was, I was concerned that he would try to bite me as I grabbed his paws, but he didn't even appear to think about it

Kitty is a tame, male orange tabby that ran across the highway from his house into a wild, wooded area and climbed a tree.  His owners had tried unsuccessfully to get him down for two days before they called me.  I arrived to find him about 20 feet up an oak tree which was surrounded by privet, briars, and small pine trees.  I had to clear an area to give me room to work and then climbed the tree.  Kitty was a mostly cooperative sweet boy.  He did hiss at me a couple of times just to let me know that he could take care of himself if needed, but mostly he just cried and cried.  He was friendly and readily took the food I offered him.  He refused to go all the way into a carrier however, so I had to scruff him into my cat bag.  He took it very well, and was very relieved to have some food once we got down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXfFeNMlKSg His owners sent me this picture of him as he was sleeping that night.  I love to see him so contented and comfortable aft

OrangeJello’s rescue is by far the most difficult rescue I have ever done.  It is also the most painful rescue for me to recall, because, even though the outcome was successful, I feel like I failed. OrangeJello is a feral cat.  He would allow his caretaker, Staci, to get close enough to him to feed him, but he did not want to be touched.  He was less than 20 feet high in an oak tree that was just inside a wild, wooded area, and he had been there for five nights before I arrived.  The weather had been bad with lots of thunderstorms, and more rain was in the forecast and lots of it.  Staci took this heart-breaking picture of him the day before I arrived. How can you look at him hanging on for life and crying desperately like this and not want to help! The tangled tree he was in was surrounded by large bushes and vines and just getting to the tree was very difficult.  There was no place to stand fully upright because of the canopy of the privet over my head blocking my access t

Bella should have been an easy rescue.  She was a sweet, tame calico who had been in the tree for four nights, and she was only 35 feet high in a large sweet gum tree that was easy to climb.  She came to me when I offered her food, and she allowed me to pet her.  However, when I placed the food inside a carrier, she refused to have anything to do with it.  I was expecting to have one of these cases someday, but I was inadequately equipped for it. One of the basic tools I often need is a special bag to put the cat in.  This bag is nothing more than a laundry bag with a glove sewn into the bottom.  I simply put the glove on my hand, pull the bag over my arm, scruff the cat with my gloved hand, invert the bag over the cat, and tie off the top of the bag to bring the cat down.  I was unable to make this bag myself, so I was working on finding someone to make it for me.  In the meantime, I planned to use a bag without the glove sewn into it.  That is what I did with Bella, but I co