Cat Rescue Guy

Piper is a three-year-old kitty in Mandeville who loves Kirsten and Kirsten's mother and grandmother, but she doesn't like anyone else, especially strangers. She was described as a very skittish and feisty cat, so I was not optimistic about getting to be pals with her, but, because she was so sweet with the ones she trusted, I thought I might be able to get her to warm up to me a little bit. But I was wrong. She remained cold and stone-faced the whole time, and she growled at me when I held my hand, or even food, too close. The hard part of this rescue, however, was just getting close to her. She was in a very large tree, and when I began to set my rope in one part of the tree, she ran off to the opposite side. When I installed another rope on the other side, she ran back to the first side. The only reason I was able to catch up to her was because I got lucky when she went out on a long limb, and I was able to climb up to that limb and block her escape path back to the stem. Sh

The hot season is the slow season when it comes to cat-in-tree rescues down here in the deep South. Extreme heat, as well as extreme cold, tends to drop the number of cases dramatically, but it never quite goes down to zero. There are always a few kitties who buck the trend and find a way to get themselves in trouble, and, this time, it was Fiona, a petite, three-year-old, gray tabby girl who belongs to Jill in Baton Rouge. We don't know why Fiona climbed the large Camphor tree in her own backyard, but she was stuck there about 25 feet high for about 24 hours before I arrived to rescue her. She was panting and suffering in the heat, and I heard her complaining loudly about it when I arrived. Fiona is a fairly sociable girl who normally would have allowed me to make friends with her quickly, but this was not a normal situation, and Fiona was too afraid of me to let me get close to her. As soon as she saw me approaching, she walked about 15 feet out toward the end of the long, horizo

Two rescues in two hot days for two very sweet kitties who each had been stuck in a tree in their backyard for one night. The first rescue was for Isaac, a sweet, six-year-old, gray-and-white tabby boy in Baton Rouge known to be quite sociable with everyone. His owner, Anthony, was very worried about him and desperate to help Isaac get down. Isaac was perched in the tree at the red circle in the picture when I arrived, but, when I installed my rope on that side of the tree to reach him easily, he got nervous and moved to the yellow circle where he was a bit out of reach from the rope. I climbed the rope anyway and installed another rope on the other side and used both of them to drop myself into position right in front of Isaac. Isaac is a friendly and trusting boy, so he was very comfortable with me and let me introduce myself and pet him. He was in an uncomfortable, tight crotch, so he was happy to move onto my comfortable lap where I had already spread the cat bag. I pulled the side

Poor little Finn was stuck 25 feet high in a tree behind his house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana less than 12 hours, but, oh, how he suffered. It was a very hot day, and this little black-and-white, one-year-old kitty was so hot that I never saw him close his mouth due to constant panting. The worst part, however, was that he was far out near the end of a long limb balancing on small wood where he could not get secure footing. He was scared to move lest he make matters worse, but then this strange man appeared in the tree and started shaking the limb while trying to approach him. I did my best not to disturb the limb, especially with sudden jerks, but a certain amount of movement was unavoidable. He cried almost constantly in distress. When I climbed up to him, I was expecting to be able to earn his trust and get him to come down the limb toward me, and I was not prepared to have him stay out at the end. Consequently, I didn't have the rescue-pole ready for use. I didn't even bring

Pookie did it again. Just eleven days after her first rescue , Pookie escaped and, just like last time, got chased up a tree by a loose dog. This time, however, she was stuck only 20 feet high in a tree that is much easier to climb, and she has been in this tree next to her front porch only one night. When I arrived, she was straddling the limb out a few feet from the trunk, and she was baking in the sun on this hot summer day. She was not troubled by my rope installation or my climbing up to her. She sniffed my hand a long time, let me pet her, and felt assured of my friendly intentions. I spread the cat bag over my lap, and this sweet, trusting girl came to me, rubbed her head on my arm several times, and stepped on my lap as if we did this every day. I pulled the bag up around her and brought her down. I wish every rescue could be this sweet and easy .