Lazlo

Usually, there are fewer rescues during the summer down here in the deep South when the temperatures are high and the cats are less active, but, at a current rate of only one rescue per month, this is the worst summer slump I have ever experienced. But then, within minutes, I got two calls for two different rescues, and both were in Lafayette. Fortunately, one of those resolved on its own, but that still left a need to rescue an unknown kitty that had been stuck in a tree for a week. It was Sam and Jaime of Wild Cat Foundation who called me about the cat and agreed to care for it once I brought it down.

The cat was in the tree on the right where circled in red and was crying to everyone below for help. The tree was not a fun one to climb, but I slowly worked my way up to the cat, and, before I could even get close to it, it climbed higher. When I climbed higher, it went out on the skinny limbs toward the Cypress tree next to it. As I struggled to climb up higher, I did not even notice that the cat had walked as far as possible out the skinny limbs to the skinny tips of the Cypress tree and then walked to the center of that one. He was too far away from me to rescue him then, so I went back down and installed a rope in the Cypress tree.

As I climbed the Cypress tree, the cat went higher until he could not safely go any higher (red circle in tree to the left). I was glad he did not go back to the first tree, because now I had him trapped. I climbed as high as I could go but was still a few feet below him. Now that I was close to him for the first time, I could make friends with him. He studied me upside down and sideways and then quickly responded by being the friendly kitty he really is. Now he trusted me, and he came down to me and was happy for me to pet him. After being in the tree for seven days, he was happy to have some company. I spread the cat bag on my lap and encouraged him to step on it. It took some awkward maneuvering for both of us to make it happen, but he stepped on my lap and plopped down as if ready to take a nap. I pulled the bag up over him and brought him down.

Back on the ground, I turned him over to Jaime. I scanned him for a microchip and found one, but the chip had been never registered, and I found no posts for a lost cat that looked like him. Jaime describes him as a lovebug and named him Lazlo. She will take excellent care of him and find a new home for him if the owner is not found.