Oscar

One-year-old Oscar escaped his house and climbed a tall Sweetgum tree in his front yard in rural McComb, Mississippi, and he was stuck there about 35 feet high. Travis tried everything he knew to help his sweet orange and white kitty come down, but nothing was working. This happened once before, and Travis learned then that there were no local resources to help. Fortunately, Oscar either came down or fell down after four days in the tree, so Travis was hoping he would do it again this time. But Oscar was still stuck in the tree after seven days, and by that time, Travis found someone who referred him to me.

From the way Oscar appeared while I was on the ground, I thought I had a good chance of meeting a receptive and friendly kitty up in the tree, but it didn't quite work out that way. I climbed on the opposite side of the trunk from Oscar where we could not see each other. That was not intentional this time as it often is when I am trying to climb above a scared cat to prevent him from climbing higher. It's just that the best place to install my rope this time happened to be on the other side of the trunk. Consequently, as I climbed, I frequently had to pull myself around to the other side so he could see me and know I was friendly and coming for him. When I was about ten feet below him, however, he appeared and sounded very uncomfortable with me. I tried to reassure him, but I could see that it was not having much effect. I did not want to risk scaring him higher in this tall tree, so I decided to take advantage of my hidden climbing position and climb up above him quickly to block his upward escape path. As I was doing so, I could hear something happening with Oscar on the other side, but I could not see what he was doing. By the time I stopped to pull myself around, I saw him ten feet below me clinging to the trunk of the tree and doing an excellent job of climbing down backwards. It was very scary for him, but Oscar rescued himself by working his way backwards all the way down to the ground. Once he reached the ground, he ran inside the house.

I am hoping Oscar will remember this new skill the next time he finds himself in a tree. With a little more practice, he could become very confident in his ability to climb down any tree and never be in need of a rescue. That first time, however, is very scary, and even when a cat knows how to climb down, it is very hard to overcome that fear and get started climbing down. Sometimes, the only way to overcome that fear is to face something even more frightening, like me in the tree with him, to make climbing down seem attractive and easy. It's all relative. Regardless, Oscar is safe at home now and enjoying the good life.