Aspen

It is not often that food works to motivate a scared cat in a tree to come to me, but when it does, it can be a life-saver for both me and the cat. Normally, a scared cat, no matter how long he has been in the tree or how hungry he might be, has no interest in food at all. What's most important to the cat at that moment is to escape the danger he is facing, and hunger is not even on his radar. Offering food to a cat at that time is usually a waste of food and time, but sometimes, when I have no other options, I will do it just to see if it will at least help the cat view me in a more benevolent light. However, there have been a few times when the sight, sound, or scent of food acts like flipping a switch on the cat, and regardless of how frightened he may have been before, either he suddenly thinks of me as his best friend or he doesn't care who I am, and he comes straight toward me to get the food. While Aspen's transformation was not quite that sudden and dramatic, she certainly changed from a scared, difficult kitty into a friendly, cooperative one, and that made a huge difference in the outcome of her rescue.

Faye and her fiancé moved into their new home near Walker, Louisiana just a few months ago and discovered that Aspen was a homeless resident of the neighborhood who lived primarily under the neighbor's house. They have been watching out for Aspen and feeding her, but their attempts to befriend this pretty torby were met with only partial success. Aspen would come close to them, but touching her was off limits. The next-door neighbor also experienced the same limited response. When Faye heard Aspen crying one night, it did not register that something was wrong until the next morning when she found Aspen stuck in a tree in the woods behind her house. That is when she found me and called to see if I could help.

Aspen was at the top of a small, skinny tree, and I was not sure how close the tree would allow me to get to her even if she stayed in place. After hearing about how she would not allow anyone to touch her, I was pretty sure she would try to move even farther away from me once I climbed up to her, and I was not optimistic about an easy, gentle rescue. As expected, once I began to approach her and climb just as high and close as I could safely go, Aspen moved cautiously farther out the slim limb to put more distance between us.

I did my best to reassure her, and it seemed to have some effect, but it wasn't enough to cause her to come toward me, and that is what I needed to happen to make this rescue as safe and gentle as possible. I had already learned that she responds to the sound of shaking dry food in a bowl, so I decided to give that a try, and that is when her attitude began to change. She turned around to face me and began to come slowly toward me. I held the food in front of her to encourage her to come closer. Once she was close, I held my hand in front of her, and she sniffed it. With that introduction out of the way, she sniffed the food but didn't take a bite. She sniffed my hand again, and this time, I reached my finger out to gently stroke her on the cheek. She liked that. She pressed and rubbed her head into my hand, and we became best friends right then and there. This is a sweet cat, and I was elated. After another minute of visiting, I showed the food to her again and then let her watch as I pushed it all the way back into the carrier. I held the carrier up in front of her, and she calmly walked inside. Once all four legs were inside, I gently pushed her butt and tail inside and closed the door. This was just what I wanted.

I released Aspen back on the ground, and she ran under the neighbor's house for safety. Faye will be caring for her, and we have begun making arrangements to have Aspen spayed and vaccinated. From this small crisis, some good has come to make life better for Aspen and everyone else in this neighborhood.