The next day, the cat was still hanging around, and Joe was relieved and happy to see her. Not only was Joe getting attached to the cat, the cat appeared to be getting attached to Joe. He was even thinking about keeping her. On the third day, however, he did not see her and began to worry. He looked and called around for her and, after several minutes, heard her responding to him. It took a few minutes before he could locate her cry coming from up high, but he found her up in a neighbor's tree.
Joe was relieved to find her, but how does he get her down? He tried to coax her down, but as much as she wanted down, she didn't know how to do it. Joe went into action calling everyone he could, but he ran into all the same discouraging dead-ends that most people encounter when trying to find help for a cat stuck in a tree. When he called Animal Control, however, they gave him my number and, with it, a little bit of hope. I could hear how tired and discouraged he was on the phone when he called me, but his mood changed dramatically when I told him I would be glad to help. After so many other disappointing calls, he was surprised to hear that I not only took it seriously and cared, but also would actually rescue the cat.
I met Joe at his house, and he took me into the backyard next door to show me where the cat was. The very large oak tree was just across the backyard fence in the back neighbor's yard, and access from that side was much better. Joe had already talked to all the neighbor's involved and got their permission for me to be there, so we drove over to the next block and approached the tree from that side.
The cat was about 25 feet high in the massive union where the trunk split into several large branches that arched high and far in all directions. I had only one place to tie my rope that would allow me to get reasonably close to the center of the tree where the cat was. I set my rope there, and that process made the cat a little nervous. She moved just a short distance to a different spot in the tree, but was still within my reach. I knew she was normally a friendly cat to strangers, so I needed to take care that I did not frighten her too much. If she became frightened and wanted to get away from me in this tree, there is no way I would be able to follow her on such long branches.
I went back down and handed her to Joe who was now very relieved to have her down. The bond he felt for her was now complete, and he already had a name for her: Alora. He held her in the bag and talked to her to calm her down. She relaxed very quickly once she realized that he was there. He let her poke her head out of the bag, and she was even more satisfied now that all would be fine.
