I was dumbfounded. I have heard of cases where two cats were stuck in a tree at the same time, but that is rare. Usually, they are sibling kittens or mama and kitten sticking together, but here was a case with three cats and all are unrelated. This must be a special record of some kind, and I could not wait to see it for myself.

Jerry and Donnie then pointed to another nearby pine tree where I saw two kittens perched close together about 30 feet high. They were both sitting in the middle of their limbs all exposed like ornaments on a Christmas tree. The larger of the kittens was an orange tabby that appeared to be about four or five months old. Donnie said that he first saw it about two weeks ago, and it has been hanging around since. It's left ear is also tipped, so it may have come from the same colony as Mittens. They did not have a name for it, so I will just call it Butterscotch.

My first problem was deciding which cat to rescue first. Mittens had been in the tree the longest, and I would normally like to get him down first, but the tree he was in gave me some concerns. The limbless stem of the tree rose 30 feet where it forked into a "Y," and Mittens was in the crotch of that "Y." One side of that Y was dead, and the other side was not useful either. The only safe place to tie my rope in the tree was the same crotch that Mittens was in. I did not want to do that if at all possible, but that meant I would have to climb his tree using a very slow and strenuous method that would likely tire me out. With that in mind, I looked at the other two kittens and saw them both chattering away to us below. They looked like they would be cooperative and easy to rescue, so I decided to get them down first.
As I climbed up the pine tree to rescue the two kittens, the torbie went to the opposite side of the tree and walked all the way out to the end of a limb while Butterscotch climbed all the way up to the top of the tree. I sure was wrong about their willingness to be rescued. I climbed up to the torbie's limb, and she stayed as far back as she could while hoping I would not bother her. I talked to her and tried to coax her to me, but she was not having any of that. The limb she was on was not very long, but it was too small for me to go out to get her. I opened a can of food hoping to get her to come to me, but she did not show any interest. I put the food on an extendable pole so that I could reach it out closer to her, and when I did so, she seemed uncomfortable and would not look at it. I gently nudged it closer to her so she could smell it, and then she began to show some signs of interest. After a minute or so, she sniffed it and then took a bite. I pulled the food back a few inches to get her to come toward me, and after a little while, she did so and took another bite. We spent the next several minutes there playing this game as I tried to lure her closer to me. I could get her to come within my reach, but when my hand got too close, she would go back out to the end of the limb again. Normally, I like to pet the cat before I scruff and bag it, but she was not allowing that. So, on her fourth trip up the limb to me, I decided to do a quick grab. She seemed resigned to being captured and did not complain as I pulled the bag over her.


After a few minutes on the ground and feeling safe again, Butterscotch and Mittens were enjoying milling about and sniffing things on the ground. Mittens especially seemed to enjoy rolling around in the dead leaves, and I enjoyed watching him. The torbie, however, was still stuck in a carrier and getting impatient. Since she was not ear-tipped, I wanted to take her to the vet to get spayed and vaccinated. I took her to the vet clinic where they boarded her for the night and spayed her the next day. When I was checking the kitten in, I was asked for the cat's name, but I had not yet thought about that. I asked the girl checking me in to name it, and she said "Alexis." So, Alexis it is.
I was extremely fortunate that Andrea Bryant-Young with Pets and Wildlife Sanctuary (PAWS) in Denham Springs offered to foster Alexis until she is ready for adoption. Lexie, as Andrea calls her, is now in her care recovering from her surgery and doing well. Lexie is a cautious girl, but in Andrea's care, she will learn very fast to get comfortable with people. I know she is in good hands and should be ready for adoption in a few weeks. Andrea does great work, and I would encourage you to visit the PAWS website to learn about all the good work they do. I would also encourage you to make a donation, as I have, to help them cover all the many expenses they accumulate.
Every cat rescue is unique, but this case was especially unusual. So, you would think that I would have lots of good video and pictures to show. Unfortunately, I don't. Due to an incompetent videographer and technical problems with the camera, I managed to record only the first rescue of Lexie, very little of Mittens and nothing of Butterscotch or their playful antics after the rescue. I know I should fire the videographer, but he's such a nice guy, and I really can't do without him.