Mark was holding his eighteen-month-old, indoor cat, Takazo, while taking a casual stroll around the yard as they have often done, but this time, something spooked Takazo, and he jumped out of Mark's arms, ran across the yard, and climbed a skinny Pine tree. He settled out near the end of a small limb about 50 feet high and spent two nights there refusing to budge. When I arrived at the site in Ponchatoula, Louisiana and saw where Takazo was, I felt very sorry for him in that precarious, exposed, and lonely spot, and I knew this was not going to be a simple, routine rescue. The video (below) is more effective than this picture at conveying his delicate and hazardous predicament.
The tree which Takazo chose to climb was a bit flimsy, so I was not comfortable trying to climb it up to his height. Instead, I chose to climb the larger Pine tree to the left in the picture until I was above Takazo's height. There I installed a rope above him in his tree, and then I used the ropes in both trees to move over there to him. He was a little concerned about me at first, but he quickly learned to trust me, and he enjoyed my petting and company. At this point, he was closer to the trunk of the tree than when I arrived, and it appeared that I could simply position my lap by him and get him to step on my lap. Unfortunately, he began to lose his footing on the tiny twigs, so he walked back out toward the end of the limb where he actually felt more stable. I had a difficult time luring him back toward me after that. He wasn't afraid of me, but he was afraid of losing his footing there again.
When I stretched my body out almost horizontal, I could reach him but not well enough to pick him up or bag him safely. The perfect solution was to hold a carrier in front of him and let him walk inside, but he refused to do that, even with food in the carrier for extra motivation. While I was stretched out as far as I could reach, I eventually encouraged him to come a couple steps closer to me, and at that point, I tried to drop the cat bag all around him. I wanted the bag all around him before grabbing him by the scruff in order to minimize the time I must hold him that way, but he began to get nervous and started backing up. I grabbed him by the scruff, lifted him off the limb while using my other hand to pry his clenching claws off the limb, and pulled the bag over him. I set him down on my lap and reassured him as best I could while I finished securing the bag, and I apologized to him for having to handle him so roughly. He handled it all like a perfect gentleman, and he remained calm and quiet for the long ride back down to the ground. It does my heart good to see that picture of him (below) cozy and comfortable on a soft bed again after the misery he endured in the tree for two long days.
