Cat Rescue Guy

Considering all the many and various types of suffering there are in this world, a cat stuck in a tree doesn't rank among the worst, but it's still a miserable time for a cat and worthy of relief. I was reminded of this after rescuing an unknown tabby boy in Maurepas who had been stuck in a tree for one freezing night. He was about 30 feet high in a Sweetgum tree and clearly miserable. He cried frequently to people below, but, to him, they appeared to go on about their activity without concern for him. He sat there uncomfortably on one round, rough limb restricted in movement and position while constantly being careful not to step off and fall. People, cars, and other animals passed below, but no one was doing anything to help him. As darkness fell, so did the temperature, and he had no place to go. He was exposed and lonely, and he had no reason to believe this would ever end. However, Shannon was one of those people below who heard his cry, and she noticed his plight. Even th

After having a dream rescue, I would expect the next rescue to be a nightmare, but it wasn't quite that bad. The next rescue was for one-year-old Loki in Picayune, Mississippi, and, while it wasn't a nightmare, it certainly was troublesome. First, there was the tree in which Loki had spent two nights. The tree was in a wooded area next to his home, and it leaned significantly and curved until it was horizontal. All the weight of the tree was to one side, and I wondered if my added weight might be enough to pull the entire tree down. I felt more confident after I installed my rope and successfully tested it with twice my weight, but I still wasn't perfectly comfortable with it. Loki was on the level part of the stem, and the level part was very long. If Loki was afraid of me, he had a long way to go to get away from me, and there would be no way I could follow or reach him. I was not comfortable hanging my weight any farther out the stem where it would have more leverage on

When I first decided to start rescuing cats in trees, I imagined climbing up into a tree, watching the cat come happily toward me from wherever he may be in the tree, rubbing his face on my hand, stepping on my lap, and riding down gently and sweetly to the ground. Most rescues don't come close to that, but that's my dream rescue, and that's exactly how this rescue of an unnamed neighborhood cat in Denham Springs played out. The young, black cat doesn't belong to anyone in particular, but he makes the rounds to several neighbors, and they all watch out for him. When he got stuck in a tree overnight, one of the neighbors, Lexi, called me for help. When I first stepped into the yard, he walked all the way out to the end of a very long limb toward me and cried out to me. When I walked to the other side of the tree, he walked back along the limb toward the trunk and then onto another long limb leading out in my direction. It was clear that this kitty was looking for help an

Melissa was in her back yard in Sorrento when she heard a cat crying. After searching for several minutes, she found a solid-white cat about 35 feet high in a Sweetgum tree in her next-door neighbor's yard. She heard the cat crying most of the night, and it was still there the next morning. She and her neighbor did not recognize the cat, so she searched the internet and found me. Melissa kindly offered to be responsible for the cat once I got it down, and I have a huge amount of admiration and gratitude for people like her. I am happy to bring a cat down out of a tree, but there is only so much I can do with it afterward if someone local does not step up and help. Thank you, Melissa. I never know in advance if an unknown cat is going to be friendly or fearful, but as I started climbing closer, I could tell this one was definitely going to be friendly. She looked and leaned toward me, she rubbed her face on the tree, she sniffed my hand, and she pressed her head and back into my han

He was the calmest of cats. He was the tensest of cats. No, this is not a tale of two cats. It's the same cat at two different rescues. The first time I rescued Little Bit, he was so tense he could barely move. Less than three weeks later, I rescued him again, and he was so relaxed I thought he might fall asleep. Yes, it really is the same cat, and, while I can't explain the difference in his demeanor, I was certainly happy to see it. After his first rescue, I thought I might see him again given that he has taken up the hobby of escaping out the door whenever he sees a chance. Like many, maybe most, of the cats I rescue, he is an inside-only cat, and once an inside cat gets outside, he is actually more likely to get stuck in a tree than an outside cat. That's because he is less likely to know how to climb down a tree -- after all, there are no trees inside for practice -- and more likely to be entering territory outside that is claimed and defended by other cats or predator

After all the relatively easy rescues I have done lately, I knew I was due for some difficult ones, and this was the day when fate decided to present two challenging rescues to me. The first was for Panther, a four-year-old black cat in Denham Springs I twice rescued two years ago. Although Panther is normally wary of strangers, I had no trouble with him at the first two rescues and found him quite cooperative, so I was not expecting anything different this time. Panther was about 35 feet high in a leaning Tallow tree, and I had no place above him to install my rope. Instead, I installed it well below him and worked my way up to him. Everything was going well at first. We re-introduced ourselves, and he appeared calm and let me pet him, but because I did not have a rope above him, I could not pull myself up high enough to reach him comfortably. I held a carrier up to him, but he didn't appear to like that very much. I needed to get higher, so I moved a small limb out of my way and

People in this area will certainly remember the two consecutive nights of lengthy thunderstorms we experienced recently. Jinx, a sweet, nine-month-old, kitty belonging to Ireland near Slaughter, Louisiana, was stuck in a tree for those two nights. This was the first, and probably last, time that Jinx has been outside, and it was not a pleasant experience. When I arrived to rescue Jinx, she was about 45 feet high in a corkscrew-shaped Sweetgum tree, but, when I tried to shoot my line into the tree, she got spooked and climbed higher and higher until she went as high as she could go in this tree. She was now about 75 feet high, and Ireland lost all hope that it would even be possible to rescue her. I was having some doubts of my own, but Jinx made it possible by being very cooperative once I climbed up to her. She was ready to get out of this miserable tree, and she tried to reach down to me once I got close to her. The stem was too steep for her to climb down to me, and she was a bit ou