Ash and Unknown

When I hear that a cat runs to the back of the house and hides when new people arrive, I am not expecting that cat to be happy to see me approaching him in a tree, but cats surprise me sometimes, and Ash, the six-year-old black kitty who runs and hides from visitors to his home in Mandeville, surprised me in a most welcome and pleasant way by being quite happy to see me in the tree with him. Ash had been stuck in a neighbor's tree overnight, and he found the experience to be most unpleasant. Perhaps that is what made him more receptive to me, but I didn't need an explanation. I was just happy that he made his rescue so much easier for me. That scaredy-cat actually got in my lap, so all I had to do was spread the bottom of the cat bag over my lap first, let him step on my lap, and then pull the bag up around him. A few minutes later, he was back home and quite happy to be there. After I packed my gear and went to his home to retrieve my cat bag, with big eyes, Ash saw me coming through the door and immediately turned around to run to the back of the house to hide. Cats are so funny.

Mary and Robin are next-door neighbors who both heard a cat crying desperately for an extended time behind their houses. The cat was clearly in distress, and they could not rest until they found the cat and relieved its suffering. Robin got the courage to go down the steep bank of the creek that ran behind their houses and wade in knee-deep water across the creek to search on the other side. That is where she found the source of all the crying: a cat stuck about 25 feet high in a tree. They didn't know the cat, but they knew they had to help it, so Mary called me.

Fortunately for me, there was a public park on the opposite side of the creek there, so I approached the site from that side to avoid having to cross the creek multiple times. I found the cat where they told me and began to climb the tree to rescue him. The cat was desperate for a rescue and very happy to see me coming for him. He was perched in a nest tangled with vines and could not come down toward me, but he was clearly trying. Once I was within reach, he stretched toward me and started purring. No introductions were necessary. This sweet boy trusted me from the start. I had a difficult time getting into a position where I could reach him, but once I did, I picked him up out of his nest and placed him on my lap where I had already prepared the cat bag. I petted and reassured him on my lap for a minute and then pulled the sides of the bag up around him and took him down.

While I was rescuing the cat, Mary learned that a neighbor's cat had been missing for two days. After a period of confusion, we eventually determined that this was indeed the missing cat, so this super-sweet boy is now safe at home.