Bella

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 could not get a secure grip on her through the fabric of the bag.  She wiggled out of my hand, walked to the extreme end of a very long branch and made it clear that she did not trust me anymore.  I had blown my best chance to rescue her.

Since I had no way to reach her and she was having nothing more to do with me, I decided to securely tie a cat trap onto her branch, leave the area, and wait for her to go into the trap.  Then I would climb back up to retrieve her.  I waited for a while and watched from a distance, but Bella was happy where she was and had no intention of moving.  It was getting dark, so I asked the people there to check on her and call me when Bella was trapped.  I got a call at 10:00 that night saying that Bella did finally investigate the trap, but she brushed against the trap door causing it to fall closed, blocking her entry into the trap and spooking her in the process.

The next morning, after her fifth night in the tree, I went back out not sure what to expect.  Fortunately, she seemed to have forgiven my ineptitude of the day before and again came to me when I offered food to her.  This time I was better prepared.  I was standing on a large branch and stood a carrier on end between my legs with the open door facing up.  Then I scruffed Bella with my gloved hand and stuffed her, butt first, into the carrier and closed the door.  She wasn’t happy about it, but she took it very well.  I lowered her to the ground, gave her time to settle down, and gave her a can of food to which I added water to help her get rehydrated.  She was released inside the house a short while later and is doing well.