Cat Rescue Guy

Evie is a sweet, nine-month-old gray tabby girl who got stuck in a Sweet Gum tree in her own, fenced-in backyard. We don't know why she climbed the tree, but the more her family tried to coax her down, the higher she went. Up was the only direction she could figure out, and by the time I arrived, she was 45 feet high and very near the top of the tree. While Evie would generally be expected to run away from strangers under normal circumstances, it turned out that, after spending four nights in the tree, she was actually happy to see me, and I was grateful for that. After all, after climbing as high as I could safely go in that tree, I still had to reach for her, so if she had gone any higher, the rescue would have been much more difficult and risky due to the rotting stem she was on. But Evie was friendly and cooperative, so all I had to do was lift her out of her perch and put her in the bag. Evie is doing fine now and has returned to doing her favorite things: eating, sleepi

Hundreds of people passed by on the interstate without ever noticing this small but mighty and desperate kitty crying loudly over and over for someone to help her down from this tree. She could have been in clear view of everyone who passed, but no one noticed because she was in just one of countless, crowded trees lining the highway, and she was too small to stand out and not loud enough to be heard. Even though hundreds of people passed by, she was unknown and all alone as she sat 35 feet high near the top of a tree. Fortunately, on the other side of this swath of trees lining the interstate, there were some homes, and in one of them, an officer with the sheriff's office heard her crying over the noise of the interstate traffic and cared enough to investigate. It took him a while to find her, since she was well hidden up high in the foliage, but a quick call to the parish animal shelter led him to me. I have to admit that I was not looking forward to this rescue. After all,

How many days can you go without food and water? One? Two? Three? As for me, I imagine that after about 12 hours, I would be ready to give up state secrets in exchange for half a Twinkie, but Madd Maxx, the sweet six-month-old gray tabby, went much longer. Maxx got stuck in a tree and went nine days without food and only scant amounts of water that he licked off his fur during a light rain. Nine days! That's a long time, but it is certainly not a record as other cats have survived much longer than that. Imagine trying to do that, and then imagine that you must also stand on small limbs the entire time with no substantial room to lie down or stretch out. Now you have an idea what poor Maxx suffered during these past nine days. Lynda first saw Maxx when, through her work with a non-profit organization, she met a homeless man who was holding a small, gray tabby kitten. When he offered to give the kitten to her, she immediately jumped at the chance. Lynda had been wanting to get a

When Brandy saw the tiny ball of fluff wandering the dangerous street all alone one night, she did not hesitate to pick it up and take it home. She bottle-fed and cared for the solid gray kitten, and, before long, the kitten began to thrive. Now, the kitten, named GrayC, is three month's old, and, for reasons unknown, she climbed a small Pine tree at the edge of the property and got stuck there. Brandy and her husband did everything they could to get her down but became increasingly frustrated as GrayC just climbed higher and higher. Eventually, a plea for help on Facebook led them to me, and, by the time I arrived, GrayC had been there a full 24 hours. When I arrived, GrayC was about 25 feet high in a Pine tree that was rather small and had no limbs available that were suitable for installing a climbing rope, so I climbed the tree using a slow method. GrayC watched me and was calm and patient as she waited for me to reach her. She spoke to me rarely, but her voice was more lik

I rescued Doja once before . At that time, he was an unknown cat that several neighbors noticed stuck in a tree, and all of them did their best to help. When I went to rescue him, I found him very friendly and sweet, and he readily walked into the carrier. Thanks to the phone numbers on his collar and his microchip, I was able to find the owner and return him to his home, but it took several minutes to do so. During that time, Doja was very distressed at being confined in the carrier and spent every minute and ounce of energy trying to break out of there. It was a great relief to Doja and me when we were finally able to release him, and I thought then that if I ever have to rescue him again, he won't likely walk into a carrier. Now, just two months later, the time has arrived for his second rescue, and I wondered if he remembered his experience with the carrier. The more unpleasant his rescue experiences are, the more difficult it will be to rescue him the next time, so I alway

Pumpkin is a very sweet, three-year-old brown tabby girl who lives with Raymond and Rosemary in a very rural area near Lumberton, Mississippi. Pumpkin got stuck in a Pine tree in her back yard, and Raymond and Rosemary did everything they could and called everyone they could think of to help her down. On the fourth day, they called the animal shelter in a nearby town and spoke with Brenda who happened to know about me. She contacted me, and I agreed to go out there right away. The weather was not very good, but it appeared that I would have time to do the rescue between bouts of rain. Pumpkin was 20 feet high in a Pine tree in which the top had broken off many years ago. The only limbs that were large enough for me to install a rope were at the top of the tree where the trunk was rotting away on the inside. I could not know how securely anchored those top limbs were, so it was not safe to use them. The only limb I could use was only 10 feet high, so I climbed the rope up to that po

I was on my way to rescue Bojangles when I got a message from Mary and Jeremy about their cat, Buster, who had been stuck in a tree for two nights. Buster is one and a half years old and is a cute gray tabby boy. Jeremy and Mary had been working long hours trying everything they could to get him down from the large Sweet Gum tree, but Buster was 30 feet high and well beyond the reach of their ladder. When Mary called Cat Haven for help, they referred her to me. When I was installing my rope in the tree, Buster walked out one of the limbs to get away from the action but, otherwise, did not appear to be much disturbed by the commotion. Fortunately, he is a sociable boy and came back up the limb to see me when I climbed up to him. I petted him a few times while he walked around, and then I placed the carrier on the limb in front of him. He looked inside and decided it looked okay and stepped inside. I did not even need to entice him with food. I closed the door and brought him down t

When Joanna told me that Bojangles, or "Mr. Bo" as he is usually called, was stuck in a tree again, I immediately began to reflect back on his first rescue . Before that rescue, she had warned me that, despite his normally sweet and gentle nature, his disposition can turn particularly grouchy at times. When she takes him to the vet, for example, he becomes so wild and uncontrollable that the vet must sedate him first. So I was surprised on that first rescue when Bo came straight to me and made friends with me right away with no troubles. Since I was afraid that he would have a negative reaction to the carrier, I chose to bag him instead. But that did not go well. Bo began to express his displeasure, and my cat bag got twisted. While I struggled to get the bag straight and to contain Bo, I lost control of him, and he fell out of the bag to the ground. He was fine, but ever since then I have felt badly about losing control of him. I was determined that this second rescue woul