Cat Rescue Guy

I always feel a little apprehensive when I get a call to rescue a cat that no one knows, and there are two reasons for that.  First, I am unable to gather any information about the cat before the rescue to predict his reaction and to plan how to approach him.  Secondly, there is the problem of what to do with him once I bring him down.  If no one there is able to take responsibility for the cat, it falls on me to decide his fate.  So when John called me to rescue an unknown black cat in his back yard, I felt apprehensive. When I arrived at the site and saw the cat, I immediately felt much better.  There I found a small, solid black cat, probably less than a year old, 20 feet high in a tree, looking at us and crying for help.  A feral cat would not be crying like that, so I felt relieved that at least the probability of a friendly, cooperative cat was fairly high. The cat watched my preparations as I installed the rope in the tree well above him, and he ...

Gray has been a naughty girl.  That tree next door is just so attractive to her, and she could not resist climbing it again.  It was just over two weeks ago when I rescued her from this same tree, and now, here we are again.  Gray, what are we going to do with you? Truth be told, I rather like rescuing Gray.  She is so sweet, friendly and cooperative that the rescue is a breeze.  When she saw me climbing up, she came down to the next branch to greet me.  After we exchanged pleasantries, I placed the open carrier in front of her, and she walked on inside.  She didn't need any food to entice her.  She knew the routine, and was just waiting for me to show up and do my part. The rescue went so quickly, that I did not need to edit the video before the point where she went into the carrier.  In two minutes, it was done. Oh, if only all rescues were this easy. (See Gray's first rescue ) https://youtu.be/7gKh614ZgCg

Many cats do not like carriers, and that is understandable given that they are so often associated with negative and scary experiences such as a trip to the vet.  But Kitty is different.  Kitty likes carriers.  She even chooses to sleep inside one most nights.  But not this night.  This night, Kitty spent in a tree.  We don't know what drove her up there, but Heather found her 50 feet high in a tree the next morning.  I went out there to rescue Kitty that afternoon, and I intended to take advantage of her love of carriers to gain her much-needed cooperation. Kitty is a two-year old, black and white kitty, and, while she is mostly sociable with people, she doesn't exactly rush to greet strangers.  I expected she would be uncomfortable with my approach in the tree, so I planned to allow her some time to get used to me.  I would need her cooperation to rescue her, since she was perched far out on a fork of a branch and would be very difficul...

I had just arrived home after rescuing Gray, the sweet Russian Blue cat, when my phone rang just as I was getting out of my truck.  It was Brittney asking if I could get her cat, Richie, out of a tree.  Only one time before have I had two rescues to do in the same day, but this day it would happen again. Richie is a super friendly Maine Coon mix cat that likes to visit the neighbors.  He loves people and readily greets anyone who comes by.  Hearing descriptions like that of a cat I am about to rescue is like music to my ears.  It doesn't guarantee that the cat will be friendly to me in the tree, but it certainly sets the probability very high.  I always feel lucky when I can rescue a friendly cat, but to have two in the same day is very special indeed. Richie was about 25 feet high in a tree on a small strip of wild ground at the edge of the backyard.  Since I was expecting Richie to be cooperative, the most difficult part of the rescue would be ...

I love to rescue friendly cats, and from what I heard about Gray beforehand, I was hoping that this would be one of those cases.  Gray is a sweet, one-year old Russian Blue cat, and she had been stuck in a tree for two nights.  When I arrived at the site, I found her about 20 feet high, but was told that she had originally been several feet higher.  She cried for help to us below, and appeared to be a friendly girl.  If she stayed friendly when I climbed up to her, then this would be an easy rescue. When I set my rope in the tree above her, she was very comfortable with the activity.  She even played with the rope as it passed by her.  That was a very good sign, and I knew that she was very likely to be cooperative.  Sure enough, when I climbed up to her, she happily greeted me and let me pet her.  When I pulled myself up even with her, she even stepped onto my lap.  For a moment, I even considered bringing her down in my lap, but she was...