Cat Rescue Guy

Oh my goodness! That was my reaction to seeing where Oreo was stuck in the tree when I arrived to rescue him. Oreo picked the worst spot to be stuck in this Cedar tree just behind his home where he escaped four days earlier. Cedar trees often have an oversized limb that grows outward and then curves vertically upward like a separate tree in its own right, and Oreo picked that limb and climbed to the tip top where he settled about 50 feet high. The limbs there were tiny, and his position was precarious. His body was draped at the belly over one of those tiny limbs, and his feet barely reached other limbs on opposite sides. If he extended his legs and pushed up, he could relieve some of the pressure of that tiny limb digging into his belly, but he could not maintain that position for long. Imagine being stuck in that position for ten minutes. Oreo was stuck there for four nights. I climbed up the trunk of the tree until I was roughly level with him. I leaned and stretched out till I was

The cat rescue business has been strangely quiet the past few weeks, but I got several calls which, except for three, resolved without my intervention. The three rescues I did all are lacking in video and pictures because I failed to remember to turn on the camera. Two of the rescues were unusual because the cats were elderly, and the other one was for a cat I have already rescued twice before. First was Ellie, a twelve-year-old, brown tabby girl in Ponchatoula, Louisiana who had been stuck in a tree for four nights before her owners found me. After I installed my rope in the tree, she moved down a little bit and settled in a fork where a fallen, dead limb had come to rest, and that limb restricted both her movement and mine. She was a little nervous about me but tolerated me long enough for me to grab her by the scruff and bag her. She handled it very well and is quite happy to be back home again. Missy, in Denham Springs, Louisiana, is another elderly tabby girl who got stuck in a tr

I should not have been surprised. As a rescuer of cats when they get stuck in a tree, I should have known that it was only a matter of time before someone with a pet bird called me to rescue their escaped bird in a tree. I understand and feel how meaningful the bird is to the owner, I understand the need and urgency of rescuing the bird, and I am eager and willing in principle to help them, but I don't know birds. I love birds, but I don't know how to read their behavior or vocalizations. I don't know how to approach a bird properly, and I don't know how to behave around them to keep them calm. I don't even know how to handle or secure a bird for rescue. I don't feel the least bit qualified to rescue a pet bird in a tree in general, much less understand the differences among the various species of birds. Yet, here I am talking on the phone to a woman who wants me to rescue her pet macaw who escaped the house the day before his appointment with the veterinarian t

All hands on deck! That was the response of the entire family when their beloved cat, Spaghetti, went missing from their home in Holden, Louisiana. This was an emergency, and everyone in the family dropped what they were doing and went to their battle stations to help in the search. Spaghetti is a special girl and has a deep bond with each member of the family. She is two years old now, but when she was born, she and all her littermates were given the name of a pasta noodle. She is a peculiar mix of mismatched tabby and Siamese parts. It's as if her body couldn't decide if she should be a tabby or Siamese, so she became both, and the result is a unique and beautiful blue-eyed girl. Most people are not thrilled about getting a phone call at 2:00 AM, but this family was delighted to get that call from their next-door neighbor and friend who knew how important this cat was to them. The neighbor had found the cat in a tree on her property, and they went out there immediately to fin