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Showing posts from October, 2022

Roux

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Both Cade and his wife, Jamie, described Roux as "not a sociable cat," but I found this cute, gray and white tabby boy to be quite friendly. Roux is two and a half years old and had spent  two nights about 25 feet high in the top fork of a small tree in his rural backyard in Lottie, Louisiana. He looked so cute up there when I arrived to rescue him, so it was hard to imagine him being unsociable. Because of his position in this small tree, I had to approach him with a slow climbing method, so, perhaps, that worked to our benefit as it gave him more time to watch me and adapt to me, or, maybe, he was just so anxious to get out of the tree that he was ready to welcome anyone. Whatever the case, he seemed quite happy to see me and let me make friends with him right away. All I had to do was lift him out of that fork and put him in the bag for a safe ride down to the ground.

Catfish's Second Rescue

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When I rescued Catfish the first time about a year ago, I succeeded in reaching him only because he was trapped between two scary things: me and a steep, downward-sloping limb. He was too afraid to get close to me, and he was too afraid to go down that limb toward the trunk. Fortunately, I was close enough then to reach him and earn enough of his trust to bag him and bring him down. This time, however, we were not so fortunate. Catfish is a much-loved, three-year-old Russian Blue boy who is kept strictly indoors, but he escaped unnoticed one evening, and, despite intense searching, was not found until ten days later in the next-door neighbor's tree. We don't know for certain that Catfish was stuck in the tree the entire ten days, but it seems likely. He had found a stable spot in a large bird nest about 20 feet high in a leaning Tallow tree, and it was very difficult to see him from the ground. If he didn't cry, you would not know he was there. Even though his family had p...

Jessabelle

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While I always develop a love for every cat I rescue -- even those that give me great trouble -- I must confess that there are some who touch me more than others, and Jessabelle, the sweet, six-month-old tortie who was stuck in a tree for two nights in Addis, Louisiana, touched my heart in a special way. Jessabelle is a sweet combination of trust, calmness, gentleness, and childlike innocence all wrapped up in a cute, soft, compact, tortie package. She trusted me as soon as I climbed up to her, and she waited patiently while I got into position to reach her. When I lifted her off her perch with both hands under her chest, she relaxed in my hands even while I was holding her high in the air. I set her down on my lap, and she relaxed there without moving while I petted her and then pulled the bag up around her. I held her in my arms for a minute to reassure her that she was safe, and down we went. While she was only 30 feet high, the climb up to her was especially miserable and difficult...

Smoke

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No one noticed when or how Smoke escaped outside, but it did not take long for everyone in the family to notice his absence. Smoke is a much-loved, six-month-old, indoor-only kitty, so the whole family began looking everywhere for him. They even took a slow, midnight drive all around the neighborhood in Mandeville hoping to catch a glimpse of him, and, when that failed, they gathered in the backyard afterward. It was then, on the third night, that Will, the ten-year-old boy in the family, heard a faint, familiar cry, and, after following the sound, they found Smoke in the next-door neighbor's tree. It was a great relief to find him, but it was also frustrating that they could not reach him. They tried repeatedly to coax him down, but Smoke did not have the courage for that. I was there the next day to see if I could bring Smoke down, and it turned out to be a very easy rescue. Smoke is a friendly boy, and he was barely twenty feet high in a large tree that was easy to climb. He sho...

Pepper Jack

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Pepper Jack, often called PJ, is a six-month-old gray tabby boy who was born to a feral mom but was found and adopted by a nice family in rural Port Vincent, Louisiana. We don't know why, but Pepper Jack climbed a tree in his yard and didn't stop climbing until he was almost fifty feet high. There is a straight tree in the center of the picture, but Pepper Jack climbed the one immediately to the right of it, and that tree leans behind and to the other side of the center tree. He spent one night there and most of one hot day in the sun before I could rescue him. When I climbed up to him, I could see that he was panting, and he never stopped panting the whole time I was there with him. He was cautious with me at first, but he eventually learned to trust me. Since he was so hot, I knew he would be interested in going inside a shaded carrier, so I held the carrier up to him, and he did not hesitate to walk inside. I closed the door and brought him down, and he is now happily enjoyi...