Ollie

Poor Ollie.  This sweet, 9-month old, gray tabby boy got stuck up a tree in an obscure place, and it was a few days before anyone could find him.  When his family finally found him, they were unable to find anyone who could rescue him.  Seven days had passed before they finally found me, so I was anxious to get out there as soon as I could.  When I arrived, I found Ollie 45 feet high and so exhausted that he had draped his limp body over a branch like a wet rag hanging out to dry.  It breaks my heart to see such a pitiful sight like that, but when he heard his family call him, he perked up, stood up on the branch and answered back.

After talking with his family about his personality, I was hopeful that he would be a cooperative cat.  One would expect that his extreme length of time in the tree would make it more likely that he would be cooperative, but with cats one can never be sure.  As I climbed up to him, I watched and listened to him to judge his reaction.  At times he seemed fine, while at other times he was getting slightly fearful.  I gave him time to get used to me, but when I finally reached his level, I could see that he was backing away.  After a few minutes, however, he was comfortable enough to sniff my hand.  He alternated between caution and hopeful curiosity several times, but he never climbed higher or walked farther out on his branch.

To gain his trust, I opened a can of food for him, and that immediately got his attention.  When I held out the food for him, he came to it and started eating, and let me pet him while he ate.  I put the food in the back of the carrier and held it up to him.  He readily stuck his head in the opening to sniff the food and gradually walked on inside.  I shut the door and brought him down.  A cooperative kitty makes for an easy rescue.

While he was in the carrier, he had managed to eat the entire can of food that was there.  When we released him inside his house, he was still licking his lips, and, to my surprise, came to me first, rubbed against my legs, and stuck his face in the camera.  Then he ran to his owners and was clearly happy to be with them again.  It is so rewarding for me to see the reunion of the cat with his family.  The joy and relief for cat and human alike is readily obvious, and that is the best part of the rescue for me.

Ollie stayed very close to his family the rest of the day and night as if he was afraid to ever be separated from them again.  After some long and heavy sleeping, he is doing fine, although he is much lighter now.  Before he got in the tree, Ollie was a fat boy weighing over 15 pounds, but now he looks like a lean and healthy cat.

I do not have video of the rescue due to a camera malfunction caused by operator klutziness.  It seems like I have heard of this happening before.  I can show only these few still pictures that I was able to get.