Cat Rescue Guy

Cats sure can cause a lot of trouble. Not only can they cause trouble for their own family, but they can cause trouble for anyone who happens to be nearby. For example, when you find an unknown cat stuck in a tree in your yard, like it or not, you suddenly have the trouble of being responsible for the cat. It doesn't matter if you don't have time or even if you hate cats, you have the trouble of finding someone who can rescue the cat, and then you need to take care of the cat until you find its owner. If the owner is not found, then you need to find a home for the cat. That's trouble, and many people simply won't or can't put out that much effort to help an unknown cat. Depending on who, if anyone, takes responsibility for the cat, the cat's eventual fate can range anywhere between sublime and tragic. Dewey was lucky. He was lucky because he happened to get stuck in a tree on the property belonging to Lamar and Stacy, and they were willing to go to the trouble o...

Whenever I approach a cat stuck in a tree, I desperately want him to welcome me, recognize my good intentions, trust me, and be friendly with me as soon as I am close to him. Indeed, I want that for every cat I see whether he is in a tree or on the ground. I imagine we all want a warm reception like that, but it's not a particularly realistic expectation in every case. In fact, when I think about it, I marvel that any cat would ever be receptive at all. Imagine being approached by a creature of a different species who is at least 15 times larger and clearly much more powerful, not only in strength but also in his control over his environment. It must surely be frightening to stand next to such an imposing beast towering over you and focusing his attention on you. What will he do next? Yes, I am amazed when a cat gives me a warm reception, and I feel so honored and lucky to get it. That's how I felt with Blue, a four-month-old kitty in Central, Louisiana who got stuck in a tree ...

I was on my way to rescue Simon when I got a call about another cat, Steve, who was stuck in a tree in Denham Springs, Louisiana. When I asked about Steve's disposition toward strangers, I was told that he doesn't like people. That's not what I like to hear, and it sounded like he would be a very uncooperative cat to rescue. My expectation for a difficult rescue, however, turned out to be mistaken. Steve is a six-year-old, inside-only cat who escaped and climbed a tree immediately next to his house. He was about 25 feet high and had been stuck there for one night. When I began to climb up to him, he didn't act like a cat who hated people. In fact, he seemed to be very happy to see me coming toward him. The closer I got, the more he rubbed his head against the tree, and the sweeter he looked. He sniffed my hand, let me pet him, rubbed his head against the tree some more, and pushed his head into my hand for some more pets. This cat is not acting like a cat who hates peo...

Simon is only sixteen months old, and this is the fourth time I have rescued him in the past twelve months. He is an inside cat, but he often finds a way to slip out the door, and he has a magnetic attraction to trees. I don't know how many more rescues are in his future, but I suspect I will be seeing him in a tree again. I won't mind. I like Simon. He is always very friendly, cooperative, and docile, and this time was no exception. Simon was in a bad spot this time. When I arrived, he was 50 feet high in the fork of a dead branch (red circle), and I was concerned about how I could safely reach him. I began to install my rope about 15 feet below him (yellow circle) where I was sure the tree was alive and planned to determine what I would do next after getting a closer look at the dead branch. While I was  working to install my rope, Simon came down 15 feet to that same fork, and that saved me a great deal of trouble and risk. I didn't see him do it. I just looked up to pul...

It was five years ago that Meadow first appeared at Kenny and Tiffany's door in Denham Springs, Louisiana and decided to move in with them, so she is probably six or seven years old now. She is a sweet, friendly girl, so it wasn't hard to convince them to let her stay. Now, for the first time in her life, she has found herself stuck 25 feet high in a Pine tree behind their house, and she was stuck there for three nights before Kenny and Tiffany found me and asked me to rescue her. Meadow was happy to see me climb up to her, and she lived up to her friendly reputation by greeting me and letting me pet her. Now, the only remaining issue was deciding how to bring her down. She is not a lap-sitter, so getting her on my lap and pulling a lap bag up around her was unlikely. However, she has no history of being traumatized by a carrier, so I thought that would be her best option. Many people are surprised to see me use a carrier to secure a cat in a tree, because their general expecta...

I recently tried to rescue three scared kitties who decided they would rather take matters into their own paws. The first one was Chanel, an eight-year-old black beauty who was stuck in a large, beautiful Cypress tree in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for one night. She seemed calm enough at first, but when I approached her, she decided she would rather take her chances and jump fifteen feet to the ground. I could not see where or how she landed, but she ran off and went back home and is doing very well. The second kitty was Sister Cat in Slidell who was stuck 40 feet high on the lowest limb of a tall Pine tree for two nights. Sister Cat is a friendly, six-year-old girl who probably would have let me rescue her, but she got very spooked when I shot my line into the tree far above her and decided she would just come down on her own. She did a good job of it too. She backed down almost all 40 feet of that Pine tree while we waited down below cheering for her and holding a sheet for her if she fe...

Generally, for my safety, I don't do rescues at night, but there are some exceptions. I am usually comfortable finishing a rescue in the dark as long as I am able to start it in the daylight, but I don't like to begin a rescue in the dark unless there is a compelling reason for it. Darkness had just fallen when Bella called me to rescue her cat. She and her husband, Raymond, had been out of town most of the day, and they returned home to find their cat, Sam, stuck in a tree in their backyard. It was easy to detect the sense of desperation and urgency in Bella's voice, and she wanted me to come rescue her cat right now. When I suggested that I could rescue her cat the first thing in the morning, Bella found it unthinkable to wait that long. That was totally unacceptable. I fully understand that. When you love your baby as much as Bella loves Sam, you want to relieve their suffering immediately. The rescue is as much for the cat owner as it is for the cat, so I was actually c...