It is easy to see how Cutie got her name. That is certainly what I would have called her whether I intended it to be her name or not. While Cutie has the looks, this six-month-old girl doesn't have the skill for climbing down a tree, so, when she climbed 60 feet high in a Sweet Gum tree just inside the woods behind her home, she was stuck there. Amy searched all over for help to get Cutie down, but she didn't find me until Cutie had been stuck in the tree for five nights.
When I climbed up to Cutie, she was a little cautious with me at first, but she quickly learned that I was probably a good guy, and she came carefully down her sloping limb toward me. Cutie could not get a firm grip with her claws when going down the sloping limb like this with no side shoots for a foot hold, so it took some courage on her part to do it. When she reached the trunk, she could not come to a secure stop, so her momentum forced her to step onto another limb on the opposite side of the trunk from me. That left her butt facing me, and, more importantly for her, she had no safe way to turn around from that point. That was not a problem for me, because I already knew that she was very comfortable with the sight of a carrier, so I simply reached the carrier around the trunk facing her while expecting her happily to walk inside. To my surprise, however, she reacted to the carrier with shock and turned around to go back out her limb. As she turned around, she lost the footing for her back legs and was hanging by her front legs. I held my hand beneath her to prevent a fall and to help her back up, and she continued her walk back up the limb to where she started.
I quickly put the carrier away, prepared the cat bag, and worked to lure her back down the limb toward me again. After a few minutes, she got the courage to come back down, and, again, her momentum carried her quickly behind the trunk as before. As she tried to turn around, this time, she found herself hanging on the trunk vertically. She still somehow managed to get back on her original limb and walk back out to her original spot again. She was never in a position for me to grab her safely.
I did not expect her to come back toward me easily again after finding the last two excursions to be as scary as they were, so I pulled out a bag of treats and shook them. I knew this was a familiar and enticing sound for her, and she responded immediately. Again, she came down the limb toward me, and, again, she landed on the opposite side of the trunk before I could grab her. Just as before, in her attempt to turn around, she found herself hanging vertically on the trunk, and her cries made it clear she was frightened. I reached around, petted her to reassure her, and grabbed her by the scruff while using my other hand to pry her claws off the trunk. Each time I pried one paw loose, she grabbed another limb, but, otherwise, she never panicked or struggled. I moved vines out of the way and worked her free so I could pull the bag over and around her. I secured her in the bag and held her in my arms for a couple minutes to comfort and reassure her. She didn't cry and felt relaxed.
I took her back down and returned her to her grateful and loving family. They had all been so worried about her, so they were greatly relieved to have her safe and back home again. Later that evening, Amy sent a picture of Cutie sleeping on the recliner, and it is very rewarding for me to see Cutie getting some sound sleep on a soft, comfortable bed where she doesn't have to worry about falling.
