Sam
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 considering doing the rescue that night, but then I learned some more details.
Sam had been in the tree only since some time during the day, so he had not yet spent even one night in the tree. I prefer to know that the cat has spent at least one night in the tree before I attempt a rescue simply because cats often come down on their own especially during the night when it's quiet. The sooner I rush to the rescue, the more likely the cat will come down before I get there, and I will have wasted a trip. Also, it is to everyone's advantage to give the cat time to figure out how to climb down on his own, because if he does so, he has learned a valuable new skill which he can use to rescue himself in the future.
My next matter of concern was the cat's territory. If Sam was displaced, that is, in unfamiliar territory, then that lends more urgency to his rescue. I would not want Sam to come down into a new territory during the night and become lost, possibly forever, but Sam was in his own backyard where he knew the territory well. Sam is normally allowed outside during the day, but he is always locked inside for the night.
Then I learned that Sam is terrified of strangers and will most certainly try to get away from me when I approach him in the tree. To make matters worse, Sam was stuck in a Live Oak tree. Live Oaks give cats plenty of room to roam, and cats can go to places in the tree that I can't reach. I don't like chasing a cat all over a Live Oak tree even in the daylight, and I most certainly don't want to try that in the dark. That settled it for me. I was not going to try to rescue Sam that night. I am sorry, Bella, and I truly understand how you feel, but it simply must wait till morning.
When I arrived the next morning, Bella apologized to me for her desperation on the phone the night before, but there was no need for it. I actually like to hear that the cat means so much to her, and if I had been in her place, I am sure I would have felt the same. It's the people who don't care very much about their cat who should apologize.
Sam was perched about 25 feet high where the trunk branched into three stems. He had a safe and reasonably comfortable spot there, and the entire tree was above him spreading out far and wide. He was in a spot that I could easily reach, but the more I learned about him, the more I wondered how I was going to rescue him. The only time Bella and Raymond actually get to touch Sam is when he rubs against her legs at feeding time. They never dare try to pick him up, and he most certainly does not sit on their lap. Yet, strangely, Bella had no trouble picking him up and placing him in a carrier for a trip to the vet a few months ago, and the vet found him very calm and manageable. That gave me hope, but I prepared the catch-pole for use, if needed.
Since I knew Sam would be scared of me, I decided to climb on the opposite side of the large stem where he could not see me until I was above him. If he is going to run away from me, I want him to run down the tree, not up where the rescue would become much more difficult. I fully expected him simply to climb down once he saw me above him, and, indeed, that is exactly what he tried to do, but each time he looked down over the edge of his perch, he pulled back because it was too scary to attempt to climb down. I don't blame him. His perch actually extended beyond the edge of the trunk, so to get started going down, he would have had to hang almost upside down for a short distance to reach the trunk. He knew he would surely fall if he attempted that, so he stayed in place. He was trapped between me and a fall, so he looked upward for an alternate escape path. I placed my hand on the stem high above him to discourage any attempt to climb higher, and that seemed to work. He was trapped.
I spent a long time there working with him to reassure him and calm him. He kept his back to me most of the time. He frequently looked down over the edge and up the stem for escape paths, but he stayed in place and eventually learned that I was not a threat. I offered his favorite food to him, and he eventually showed some interest in it, but he was still too afraid to eat it. I was unsure how he would react to being touched, but I really wanted to try it since that could reassure him better than anything else I could do. I eventually got the courage and was pleased to see him react in a positive way to it. He actually seemed to like it. I gave him some gentle pets on the head and neck and some scratches on the back. He liked it all, but I knew not to overdo it. He relaxed now and laid on his stomach.
At this point, I decided to secure him into the cat bag by grabbing him by the scruff and pulling the bag over him, but I was concerned that there was a chance that he might react violently to that. I prepared the bag on my arm, petted him gently, massaged his scruff, and then I dropped the bag loosely all around him before grabbing his scruff. I lifted him out of his perch while pulling the bag down around him, and he never resisted in the slightest or uttered a single word of complaint. I brought him down quickly, took him inside, and released him there. Bella was thrilled and very relieved to have her baby back down and safe again, and I was quite happy that Sam took it all so well.