Prince

I was in the middle of an extremely long and exhausting rescue of Fulvia when I got a call from Sabrina.  Her one-year old cat, Prince, had been stuck in a tree for four days, and she and her family were desperate to get him down.  I could hear the frustration and distress of the past four days in her voice, and it was not until she called Animal Control that she learned about me and felt hopeful for the first time.  I told her I would be happy to rescue her kitty, but I could not specify an exact time since I was still in the middle of a rescue.  I said I would call her back when I finished, but added that I would need an hour or two to recover before I would be in strong enough condition to rescue her kitty.  As it turned out, I needed another two hours to complete Fulvia's rescue, but after a quick lunch, I called her back and promised to be there in 30 minutes.

When I arrived at the site, I met Sabrina, her husband, Yaman, and their children.  The cat, Prince, was in a tree in the next door neighbor's backyard, but to get to it, we would need to drive around the block to access it from the back.  Yaman rode with me to show me how to get there.  There I found Prince perched about 25 feet high in a large crotch of a sickly pecan tree.  He was difficult to see because his gray tabby coat blended in well with the pecan bark.

The tree was a little unhealthy, one-sided and leaning slightly to the heavy side, but appeared to be strong enough to climb.  As I installed my climbing rope on a large branch about 10 feet above Prince, rain began to fall.  While the family looked for cover, I continued to set up since there was no lightning, and I had not heard any thunder even far off in the distance.  It was just a short, passing shower and was not serious enough to delay the rescue.  By the time I was ready to climb, the rain had stopped.

As I climbed up to Prince, I talked to him calmly since I wanted him to know I was there.  He was positioned with his back to me, and his view of me was blocked by the large trunk of the tree.  I did not want to startle him and cause him to climb higher, so I kept calling out to him, but I could not tell if he knew I was there or not.  I tried to swing around the trunk so that I could see his face, but I could not go around far enough to see him, and he was not turning around to face me.  Once I reached level with him, I continued to call out to him and put my hand in his field of view.  He finally turned his head around and saw me with one eye, and I saw at least half of his face for the first time.  He was concerned and a little wary of me, but he did not attempt to get away.  I tried to reassure him by holding my hand close to him to sniff, and I eventually was able to touch him on his upper back.  He cringed when I first touched him, but he settled down and allowed me to continue petting him.

I didn't want to waste any time rescuing him, because I was afraid he was skittish enough that he could get away from me at any moment.  So, I prepared the cat bag on my arm, petted him a little, and then grabbed his scruff and pulled him away from the tree.  I inverted the bag over him and secured him in the bag.  He complained a little, but he did not struggle.

I came back down to the ground and handed him to Sabrina.  She and the rest of the family took him home and released him there.  I was very grateful for an easy rescue after the extremely long and exhausting rescue earlier.  I packed up and was very happy that this one went so quickly and well.

The next day, Sabrina reported that Prince is doing just fine.