Cat Rescue Guy

BJ called me early that morning after someone referred him to me in response to his Facebook post. His daughter had a cat that was stuck in a tree, and she had just found him there after he went missing two days earlier. The cat's name is Mangus, and he is strictly an indoor cat, but he has recently picked up the bad habit of darting out the door when someone opens it just a little too long. He normally returns in just a few minutes, but this time, he did not return. The family looked for him but could not find him until after his second night away. Mangus was near the top of a near-vertical limb in a bushy tree in a neighbor's backyard two houses down. BJ was at work, but his wife, Shannon, met me there at the neighbor's house  which belongs to Joey. Joey was very helpful and cooperative and welcomed us into his backyard. He had already gone to great lengths to rescue Mangus himself, but Mangus was not in a spot that is easy to reach.  Mangus actually belongs to Kaitli

When I get a call for a rescue, I love it when I hear the caller say that their cat loves people, including strangers. I did not hear that this time. In fact, Pamela told me that her cat, Skylar, an eight-month-old calico girl that was raised in her home since birth, does not like strangers. The encouraging news, however, was that it would likely be possible to make friends with her in time. So, off I went to rescue Skylar knowing in advance that I would need to be patient with her in order to gain her trust and cooperation. Skylar was only 25 feet high in a large, easy-to-climb sweet gum tree, and she was resting about 10 feet out on a long limb. What concerned me was that her limb was directly above two fences -- one wooden, one chain link -- that ran in parallel to each other a few inches apart and along the same direction as the outer part of the limb. The fences would be a serious risk to her if she fell, so I wanted to be sure I did not give her any reason to be afraid of me.

It was only 45 minutes before sunset when Liz called me to see if I could rescue her cat, Pretty Girl, out of a tree. Liz had just learned about me from a friend on Facebook and called me right away. Normally, I would make arrangements to do the rescue in the morning, because I prefer to have enough light to see the tree well. This time, however, I was thinking about doing it that night. For one thing, the last weather report I had seen predicted a light freeze for the night. Also, when I first mentioned that I could do the rescue in the morning, I could hear a slight hint of restrained disappointment in Liz's voice. Then Liz told me that her 10-year-old daughter, Madison, had been crying off and on all day with worry about her kitty. Then the final dagger in the heart of my hesitation was the news that this was her daughter's birthday, and she had some friends over for a birthday slumber party that night. Okay, that's it. I'm doing it tonight. I probably should have