Peaches

Cats don't ever talk about it, but they suffer when they get stuck in a tree. When a cat has to curve his body around the stem and stand on two thin limbs, it gets tiring very fast. Imagine only 10 minutes in that position without being able to change your position appreciably. The limbs begin to dig into your feet, so you move your feet and let your body take the weight. It does not take long before that gets unbearable, so it's back to the feet. Imagine an hour like that, then a whole day and night. Now, imagine seven days like that, and you have an idea what Peaches suffered.

Peaches is a six-year-old calico that got stuck 40 feet high in a 45-feet-tall sweet gum tree just a few yards from an interstate highway. Chanel and her husband, Timmy, did everything they could to help her down, but nothing was working. Every effort and every call for help failed to produce any results. At last, Chanel caught a ray of hope when someone on Facebook mentioned me. Chanel sent a message to me right away, and afterward was disappointed to discover that I was located too far away from her home near Picayune, Mississippi. She immediately sent me a "nevermind" message before I could respond to her first message. I told her that she was well within my range, and I would be happy to go rescue her kitty as soon as I could get ready.

Peaches' tree was in a narrow strip of crowded trees stretching along the interstate, and Peaches' mostly-white coat stood out against the blue sky in her exposed position so close to the top. I felt so sorry for her being stuck up there for so long. This was just so wrong. This should not happen, and if I were in charge of the world, it wouldn't.

I installed my rope and climbed up to her, and she was happy to see me. She greeted me readily and let me touch and pet her right away. The poor thing wanted to move around a bit but was so limited in where she could go. She tried to stand up and turn around, but her back leg needed to stand where there was nothing but air. She repeatedly tried to find a footing in the air there, so I helped her out by putting my hand under her foot so she could stand on it to balance and turn around.

I wanted to bring her down in the carrier, but I had poor footing and balance problems of my own and never could get in a workable position to hold the carrier steady for her. I gave up on the carrier and prepared the cat bag instead. I petted her, massaged her neck and then pulled her up by her scruff and pulled the bag over her.

I brought her down and handed her to Chanel who took her inside the house to release her from the bag. Peaches was clearly happy to be back down on the ground and at home, and after sniffing everything again and eating some food, she settled in for some much needed rest in a comfortable bed. And, no, she didn't say a word about her suffering in the tree. That's in the past.