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Showing posts from July, 2020

Unknown Torby

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When Andrea let her dogs out in the backyard of their Hattiesburg, Mississippi home, one of them spotted a cat intruder in the yard and immediately began to chase it. The cat ran up a large oak tree near the fence. Andrea has two cats of her own, and her two dogs are cat-friendly, so she was concerned about this cat she had never seen before and hoped it would come down on its own when she brought the dogs back inside. Andrea kept checking on the cat, but it was always still on the same limb about 20 feet high. When she found the cat was still there the following morning, she already knew who to contact. When she was a student at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Bob Reese was one of her faculty advisers, and she knew he rescues cats in trees. Since Hattiesburg is closer to me, Bob asked me if I would be interested in handling it, and I agreed to do it. This unknown kitty in Andrea's tree had remained mostly quiet, so I was concerned that this was a feral cat. General...

Stella

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Stella got off to a rough start in life, but she and her three other litter-mates got profoundly lucky when Christie found them and took them all home with her. Christie is an extraordinarily competent and compassionate cat rescuer who has rescued countless cats over many years, nursed them to good health and placed them in good homes. Stella was a cutie -- as can be seen in this picture of her from that time -- but she was a bit of a challenge in that she was the runt of the litter and not in good health. Under Christie's care, however, Stella improved and eventually caught up to her siblings. Stella was the last to be adopted, but she found the perfect home and fit with Liz, and the two of them have bonded very strongly over the past year. Stella escaped the house recently and quickly learned a very harsh lesson: there is a mean cat out there. That cat lives next door but considers Stella's yard as her own territory and promptly chased Stella up the nearest tree. The tree is ...

Unknown Kitten

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So many unanswered questions. From where did this small tortie kitten come? Where are her siblings and mama? Why is she 20 feet high in this tree? How long has she been there? We know the kitten was in the tree at least two nights, because  Amanda and Catherine heard it cry in their backyard. They were unable to locate it because it did not cry often, and it could not possibly be seen from the ground because it was 20 feet high in the large branch union of a very large tree. It was not until the kitten poked her head over the edge that they finally saw it, and at that point they called me to see if I could help. The first time I saw the kitten was when I climbed up above her.  I am not good at estimating the age of a cat, but this kitten appeared to be somewhere between eight and twelve weeks old. She was nestled in the space between some very large branches rising above her on all sides. She was on the opposite side of the trunk from me, and if I were to reach through the sma...

Jasper

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It was a sweet, six-month-old cutie-pie named Jasper who finally pulled me out of the summer doldrums. I had not had a rescue to do in four weeks, and I was wondering when the next one would be.  Stephanie is not sure how or when Jasper managed to slip out the door unnoticed, but slip out he did, and Stephanie was shocked to find him up in her next-door neighbor's tree. After calling everyone for help and being refused each time, she searched the internet and quickly found me. When she called, I could hear in her voice just how concerned she was and how she wanted her kitty down now. Even though it was late in the afternoon and Jasper had been in the tree only since early morning, she did not want to wait any longer to get her baby down, so I rushed over there as quickly as I could. Jasper had been stuck in the tree during some torrential thunderstorms, so I know he must have been miserable. But when I arrived and saw him for the first time, he looked just fine and happy. He ...