Alphie

I was naively expecting an easy rescue when I arrived at Kamryn's house in Livingston, Louisiana that morning, but I was surprised by what I found. Yes, Kamryn told me that her cat was very high, but that is what everyone says, and "high" does not necessarily mean it will be difficult. This kind of "high," however, is different. The cat, Alphie, was in a wooded area at the top of a tall, skinny, and floppy Tallow tree that had no limbs until the top. The height at 60 feet was not a problem, but my weight at the top of a tall, flimsy stick like this would be too much for it to hold without flopping me over until it snapped in two.

When trees grow in a wooded setting, they tend to grow tall and skinny in order to reach the sunlight they need. When a cat is stuck in one of these trees, often there are other larger and taller trees nearby that I can climb instead and still be within reach of the cat. That was not the case this time. All the trees were roughly the same height. I knew I could climb Alphie's tree pretty high, but I didn't know exactly how high I could safely go. Perhaps I could get close enough to reach her with the catch-pole. I wouldn't know until I climbed it to see how it responded to my weight, so up I went.

Alphie is seven months old and had been stuck in the tree for three nights. She was in a miserable and uncomfortable spot. There was no way to rest on that skinny limb where she was perched, so she must have been extremely tired of standing and balancing there that long. To make it worse, she was spayed just a few days prior to climbing the tree, so that surely added to her discomfort.

She appeared to be excited to see me coming up toward her, but she was not making an effort to come down toward me to make it easier. As I climbed, I noted how much the tree was swaying due to my weight, and I found that it started swaying more than I wanted sooner than I expected. I had not yet reached the lowest limb, and it was clear that I was well out of range to reach Alphie even with the fully-extended catch-pole. I went as high as I dared, but it was not going to be enough. I stopped there and pondered other options for a while.

Behind me was a Pine tree that, while not much taller than Alphie's tree, was much sturdier, and it would allow me to climb almost to Alphie's height. From there I might be able to reach Alphie by pulling her flimsy tree to me. I wasn't positive it would work, but it was the only option I had. I needed to attach a rope up high in Alphie's tree to use to pull it toward the Pine tree, and if I had had the extra rope with me, I could have placed it while I was up there. I had not planned for this, however, so I had to go back down to the ground to retrieve it and climb back up again.

When I climbed back up Alphie's tree again, I noticed she had come down to the next limb. Suddenly, I had hope that she might come down far enough where I could reach her. I have noticed in other rescues before that some cats won't make a move to come toward me when I first climb up toward them, presumably because they are expecting me to come all the way to them. Once I go back down, however, they seem to get worried that they are getting left behind, and then they make a more determined effort to come down. Even when I have no need to go back down again, I will do so in some cases just to see if that makes a difference in the cat's response, and it often does. That appears to be what happened here, because Alphie was now more motivated to come down. As you will see in the video below, she precariously worked her way down head-first to the next limb. It was scary, but she did it and was happy to see that she was that much closer. After a short rest, she did it again to the next limb. That brave little girl came down all the way to the lowest limb. It wasn't easy, but she did it.

To reach Alphie on that lowest limb, I had to go up a little higher than I wanted, but I kept most of my weight on a rope attached lower on the stem and used another rope on the lowest limb just to help hold me upright. From there I was able to pull her off the limb and hold her in my arms. I petted and reassured her for a while and then I wrapped the cat bag all around her until she was secured inside.

Kamryn was very relieved to have her sweet girl safe on the ground again, and Alphie is now enjoying some recovery time in the comforts of home.