Harley and Molly

I have enjoyed so many sweet, cooperative kitties to rescue lately that I have forgotten how to handle an uncooperative one. Harley was the last in my long, cooperative-kitty streak, and she was followed the next day by uncooperative Molly. Both kitties are gray/brown tabbies, both are female, and both were stuck in a tree for three cold nights. Harley is a three-year-old in rural Holden, Louisiana, and Molly is a four-year-old in Mandeville, Louisiana.

Harley got stuck in a Cow Oak next to the front porch when a neighbor's loose dog chased her. She was about 20 feet high, miserable, and desperately wanted down, so when I climbed up to her, she didn't need to be wooed or convinced. She stepped on my lap, and I decided to take her down that way. She huddled close to me on my lap and stayed still until she was just a couple feet off the ground. She jumped down to the ground, ran onto the porch to see her family, and then went straight to her food bowl. I love rescues like this.

Molly is normally just as sweet as Harley, but she got scared when I installed my rope in the tree, and she walked far out a very long limb and settled there. Nothing I did or didn't do managed to convince her to come any closer to me. She was stubbornly resolved to stay right there, and she let me know it by her terse, one-word replies to everything I said to her. I was very limited in how far I could go toward her, and when I did, she responded by going out even farther. I spent a long time with her trying to earn her trust, but I finally gave up and resigned myself to setting a trap for her in the tree. At that moment, for reasons I don't understand, she suddenly decided I was trustworthy and came along that long limb to me where she sniffed my hand and let me pet her. I would love to know what changed in her mind, but I remain clueless. Whatever it was, I was delighted and relieved, but I was not prepared to take advantage of this to secure her in any manner. I was tied to the tree with three ropes at that time and unable to respond quickly, so I could only watch as Molly calmly stepped over my feet to go back to the trunk of the tree and step over to another limb on the opposite side. After I untangled myself, I moved over there with her and tried to reassure her with some loving pets and back-scratches, but I could see that she was also getting more nervous. When she appeared to be moving nervously away from me, I decided to grab her by the scruff and bag her, because I didn't want to miss this opportunity and let her escape. She is safe and happy at home now, and I am pondering what to do the next time I run into another kitty like Molly.