Nyla

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 front paws, but she managed to pull herself back up.  Josh had told me that she is a very friendly cat, so I was hoping for an easy rescue.

 I set up my rope and climbed up to her, but she was out on a branch about eight feet away from me and didn't look like she wanted to come any closer.  She was not afraid or alarmed, she just didn't see any reason to get close to this stranger.  She sat there catching up on some routine grooming while I tried to get her attention and make friendly overtures.  Since my natural charm was having no effect on her, I pulled out a can of food and opened it.  That changed everything.  Her ears perked up at the sound of the can opening, and she immediately began walking toward me.

 When I was initially setting up for the climb, I pulled out the carrier and set it on the ground to bring with me, but absentmindedly forgot to attach it to my harness.  It was not until I was up in the tree and ready to use it, that I realized I had forgotten it.  Nyla was a good candidate for a carrier rescue, and I had wanted to bring her down that way if she was cooperative.  But with no carrier to use, I pulled out my gloved cat bag instead.

 Nyla reacted so quickly to the food, that I was not prepared with the cat bag on my arm.  She felt like I was just teasing her with the food and complained about that while I used both hands to put on my cat bag.  Once I was ready, I gave her the food.  She ate heartily and let me pet her freely while she did so.  I let her have a few bites and then put the food away so I could free that hand to bag her.  I pulled up her scruff, lifted her off the branch and pulled the bag over her.  She didn't complain about that process, but as soon as she was closed in the bag, she got mad and started spitting and hissing.  She was not happy about being betrayed and treated in such an undignified manner, and she told me so.

 I brought her down and handed her, still hissing, to Stephanie who took her inside to release her.  The first thing Nyla did was go to the litter box.  After getting great relief there, she began to eat.

 She has recovered and is settling back into her routine.  That evening, Nyla settled into Josh's arms and went to sleep like she did in his lap the first day they met.  Yep, things are back to normal now, the family is restored, and calm has settled into the household again.