Cat Rescue Guy

My recent quiet rescue period ended abruptly with two, similar cases in one day. Both cases were for black cats in the top fork of a small tree which I could not climb in the traditional manner, and during both rescues, I unknowingly turned the camera off when I thought I was turning it on and vice versa. Consequently, I have plenty video of the boring parts of the rescue and no video of the important parts, so I have very few pictures to share. First was Baby, a two-year-old, one-eyed, sweet kitty who spent two nights in the tree in a wooded area next to her house  in Gonzales, Louisiana. She was very anxious to get help up there in the tree and was very cooperative with me with one exception: she refused to walk into the carrier. I really wanted her in the carrier because of my limited positioning options in this tree. I could not get into a position where I could get my lap nearly level with her, but I could hold a carrier up to her for easy entry. Since she refused to go inside...

Louie puzzled me. He is a sweet, friendly kitty who happens to be stuck in a tree in his backyard, and he was friendly with me when I approached him in the tree and petted him, but he occasionally made some growling noises which let me know that something was wrong. The first growl came when I reached for the carrier which was behind and below him and out of his sight. It made a little noise when I began to move it, but it wasn't anything drastic. Maybe that was a coincidence. Maybe he is growling because of his discomfort, or he felt like he was losing his footing, or feeling some kind of pain. I didn't know. Louie was perched in a fork of the stem and had been there for two nights already, so I know he must have been uncomfortable and tired of being there. Because of his position and the way in which I had to approach him, the best way to bring him down was to hold a carrier up to him so he could walk into it. That is why I was reaching for the carrier, but his growl gave me ...

We had some severe weather roll through our area recently, and that was the day that Fynn chose to get stuck in a tree in his next door neighbor's backyard. He hung on tightly as the wind and rain thrashed him about, and it broke Kristy's heart to watch him suffering up there and to be unable to help him. Kristy did her best to coax him down, but he was 45 feet high in a Sweetgum tree, and Fynn was just too scared to try. She called various people and services for help but failed until Animal Control referred her to me, and by that time, Fynn had spent two nights in the tree. Fynn is a sweet and friendly boy, but I was worried about my rope installation scaring him out to the end of his limb where I would not likely be able to reach him. To prevent that, I chose to install my rope below him and work my way up to him gently and quietly. That was the plan, but I struggled clumsily and noisily like an amateur climber to reach him, and Fynn was concerned enough to walk out his limb...

What happened to Dum Dum after he escaped his house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is a mystery. We don't know where he went or what he did. We know only that he was gone for a total of eleven days and ended up a few houses down the street where he was stuck in a tree for at least three nights. It's possible he was stuck in the tree the entire eleven days, but three nights is all that we can verify for sure, and it seems likely that he would have been noticed sooner if he had been there longer. Only Dum Dum knows the answer, and this  eight-month-old part Ragdoll kitty isn't saying  a word about it. When Tyson discovered Dum Dum about thirty feet high in a Sweetgum tree in his backyard, he and his family then realized that this must be the cat they thought they had been hearing faintly crying the past three nights. Tyson immediately began to take responsibility for the cat and find a way to help him. When a friend of his told him about me, he called me and explained the situatio...

Most rescues are routine in the sense that I climb the tree, get the cat, come back down, and everyone is happy. Some rescues, however, are not routine. The cat may be difficult, the tree may be difficult, more time and trouble may be needed, more drama may unfold, and the ending may not be typical. Carly's rescue could have been routine, but I made a blunder which led to more drama and risk than usual. Carly is a four-year-old kitty who first mysteriously appeared to Andy and Troy as a small kitten in the woods miles from anyone. They kindly took her into their home on the bank of a bayou near Plaquemine, Louisiana and made her a part of the family. They don't know what happened to cause Carly to climb the Sweetgum tree next to their house, but they found her 55 feet high in the tree and crying loudly for help. They did everything they could to help her down, but nothing worked. They contacted me i n the afternoon after Carly's first night in the tree, but I was just start...

Kimchi was not in the mood to entertain visitors. This ten-month-old kitty had been stuck in this stupid tree in Baker, Louisiana for more than two days and had not had a thing to eat in all that time. He was tired, he was hungry, and he was sleep-deprived. Now along comes this strange man intruding on his solitude and acting all friendly and cheerful, and Kimchi was just too grouchy to deal with that. Then that audacious man just plopped himself down on the limb just three or four feet from him and kept on talking. Kimchi had no interest in what he had to say. Although he was on a long limb and could have walked away from the annoying man, he was just too tired to move. He would tolerate the man for a while, but he was not going to be friendly or polite. It wasn't long before he reached the point where he could not tolerate the annoying man any longer, so he stood up, turned his back to the man, took a few steps away, and settled there. Kimchi's limb was pretty long, and I did...