Cat Rescue Guy

With a name like Betty White, you would expect the cat to be all white.  You would also expect it to be female, but Betty White is an all-white, very large, male cat.  He got his name when Ron and Sharon first discovered this feral cat and thought it was a girl.  They trapped him and had him neutered and vaccinated and learned, of course, that he was a male, but by that time the name had stuck.  They have continued to feed him and care for him for a few years, and when he didn't show up for his morning feeding, Ron began to look for him and found him 25 feet high in a small pecan tree in the backyard. Ron told me that Betty White is highly likely to stay away from me.  He doesn't even allow Ron to get close much of the time, even after a few years of daily feeding.   When I arrived, I found Betty White resting quietly in the crotch of a branch and looking very sleepy.  He was exposed to the full sun on a warm day, and the pecan tree, always the last to leaf in Spring, was jus

I was tired and not fully recovered from the two rescues I had already done that day, especially since one of them turned out to be a difficult, four-hour long rescue, but Maybelline had been stuck in the tree for two nights already, and I did not want her and her family to have to wait any longer.  Besides, Lindsey told me that Maybelline is a very friendly cat, so I expected this rescue to go quickly and easily. When I arrived I found a row of several pine trees, and Lindsey pointed out the one that held Maybelline.  I could hear her but it took me a minute to find the all-black cat in the foliage.  She was crying to us down below, a sign which I usually assume is a good one.  The tree she was in left much to be desired for a tree climber, but there were two good larger and taller trees on either side, so I decided to climb one of those and pull myself over to her tree. Unfortunately, the nature of the tree and my clumsiness combined to create a lot of noise as I climbed up t

I thought I would be seeing Calicat again, but it has been almost a year since I last rescued her from a tree.  This would be my third time to rescue her, and I knew from past rescues that she is the ultimate uncooperative kitty.  She avoids me at all costs, yet, when I arrived, I was pleased to hear Toni tell me that Calicat has mellowed a bit and is now allowing other people to pet her.  So, maybe if I play this rescue carefully, we could have a more normal rescue this time. Wrong! Calicat was perched about 30 feet high on the lowest substantial limb of the tree, and the tree rose much higher with few, widely spaced branches.  She was next to the trunk when I arrived, but by the time I was ready to climb, she had already moved up and out the limb about 10 feet farther away. Silly me.  I was being overly optimistic when I set my rope on the next branch above Calicat.  I was thinking I could just climb up to her, entice her to me and down we go.  But she was on a very long limb,

Rose does not know where this cat came from, but she suspects he may have been abandoned by some renters in the apartment complex nearby.  Whatever the case, he found a kindhearted person in Rose and decided to adopt her.  Rose named him Coal for his all-black coat and began to care for him and care about him.  So when Coal did not show up at his usual meal time, she became concerned. Meanwhile, nearby neighbors, John and Cathy, discovered a black cat stuck in a tree in their backyard.  Being caring people, they went through the painful process of trying to find someone to get the cat down before they found a veterinarian who recommended me.  They also connected with Rose so that they could coordinate their efforts to help this kitty. I arrived there the next morning and met John, Cathy and Rose.  They led me to the tree where Coal was stuck.  He was perched about 20 feet high where the trunk split into two stems.  While Coal spoke to us from above, Rose told me that he is a reas

When Josh called me, I could tell by his voice that he cared very much for his cat, Nyla.  Nyla is his nine-month old, black and white girl that had been stuck in a tree for two nights, and he was very concerned about her.  She is an indoor-only cat, but she got out two days ago and ran up the tall tree next to their house. He adopted Nyla from one of his customers who suddenly found herself with more kittens than she could handle, and Josh happened to be there when the kittens were ready for adoption.  Nyla crawled into his lap and went to sleep, and that was all it took.  He instantly bonded with her and took her home. Josh had to be at work, but his wife, Stephanie, would be there to greet me and show me where Nyla was.  When I arrived, I met Stephanie, and she pointed to Nyla about 45 feet high in the tree.  Nyla was walking around and crying with all this new activity below, and sometimes she was on some skinny limbs and slipping.  At one point, she was hanging by only her fro

Ptolemy, a 2-year old, black and white cat, was patrolling his front yard as usual when he was suddenly surprised by a large dog running down the street toward him.  This did not look good, and the only option he had now was to climb the nearest tree.  Fortunately, he escaped the dog, but now found himself stuck up in the tree.  He was distressed, because he did not know how to go back down. Daniel, Ptolemy's owner, chased the dog away and saw Ptolemy crying up in the tree.  Daniel tried to coax him down, but Ptolemy just didn't know how to do it.  Daniel propped a ladder up against the tree, but that activity and noise just made Ptolemy nervously climb up a little higher.  The ladder was not quite long enough to reach him anyway. Even though Ptolemy had been in the tree less than an hour, Daniel wanted him down as soon as possible and called me.  I was pleased to learn that he was located only several blocks from me, so it would be nice to have a very short drive thi

It was the kind of Facebook post that we all have seen too often, but this one caught Kayla's eye.  Someone unknown had dropped off a litter of four kittens at a veterinarians's office.  The vet had already spayed or neutered them all as well as given them their vaccinations.  Along with the picture of the adorable kittens was a plea for someone to adopt them.  Otherwise, the post warned, the kittens may have to be euthanized. Kayla thought about this and decided that she would go adopt all four kittens and find homes for them herself.  The next day, she drove to the vet's office and was surprised to learn that they had all already been adopted except for one solid black one.  Kayla had already found someone to adopt that kitten, so she took it and put it in the car for the 40-minute drive home.  Those forty minutes were more than enough for Kayla to fall in love, and before she reached her home in Mandeville, she already knew that she was keeping this sweet boy for her

Catherine was looking over the rubble left behind by hurricane Katrina in Biloxi, Mississippi in 2005 when she saw a Siamese cat emerge with four kittens.  Catherine is a very kind woman, and this was a sight she could not ignore.  She took the mama cat and all four kittens into her home where she cared for them until all four kittens were adopted into good homes.  She adopted the mama cat for herself and named her Harley. That was thirteen years ago, and now, Catherine found herself moving to a retirement home where she was not allowed to have more than one cat.  She had another cat which has been with her even longer than Harley.  She loved Harley and wanted to be very sure she found a special person who would love and value Harley as much as she had, and she found that person in Tiffiny.  It is difficult for a 14-year old cat to adapt to a new home and territory, but she and Tiffiny were bonding very well.  But Harley got outside, and, for reasons unknown, she climbed a tree at