Is this a coincidence? That was my first response when Latonya gave me the address where she found an unknown cat stuck in a tree. The address was only two houses down from the address in Zachary, Louisiana where I rescued a cat for one of her neighbors just one week ago. Latonya did not know the cat or its owner, but I had to wonder if this was the same cat. It's black and white, and it appears friendly, so I thought it could be TT, the sweet cat I rescued before. I contacted TT's owner, Lillian, and learned that she was out of town, but her daughter went over there to check, and, yes, sure enough, it's TT. He did it again.
TT's first rescue was very easy. He was in a clean, accessible, front-yard Oak tree, and, after he got over his initial fear of my rope which he thought might be a snake, he was very friendly, came straight to me, and stepped into the carrier. I was expecting the same this second time, so, when Latonya led me to the tree, I was a bit dismayed to see that it was just inside a wooded area, and TT was 50 feet high and 30 feet out on a very long limb. While I still expected TT to be friendly and cooperative, somehow I knew that this was not going to be a quick rescue. After stepping over a low spot in the fence which was otherwise blocking my access to the woods, I found the ground was covered with a uniformly thick blanket of poison ivy, and there were numerous shrubs and small trees blocking my climbing path.
I installed my rope where it would place me on TT's long limb but much closer to the trunk. Since the limb was not steeply sloped, I knew TT would come to me once he saw me there, and there would be no need for me to go out the limb to him. Unfortunately, I was wrong. TT did indeed want to come to me, and he tried to do so, but he could not get past those first few steps which felt too slippery and steep. He tried, but it was too scary to attempt, so he retreated each time. I went out toward him a little bit, but I was limited in how far I could go using the rope where I had installed it. I went back down to the ground, repositioned my rope, climbed back up, and began carefully working my way out toward him.
After going about two-thirds of the way out to him, I reached a point where I needed to place a rope in the fork where TT was resting. He had been spending some of his excited energy by occasionally walking farther out the limb and returning, and I knew he would do so again. I didn't have to wait long for him to walk away, and I used that opportunity to place my rope there in his perch. At his first rescue, when he first saw my rope around his limb, he thought it was a snake and was a bit fearful of it. I hated to scare him with another rope so close to him again this time, but it was necessary, and I knew he would get over it after a few minutes. As I expected, and as the video will show, when he returned and saw the rope, he was concerned, and he cautiously swatted at it and investigated it further. After a few minutes, he relaxed with it, and I began to use the rope to pull myself closer to him. Once I was close enough to place a carrier on the limb in front of him, he readily stepped inside, and I closed the door and secured him for the long ride back down to the ground.
Lillian was still out of town, but she told me that I could place TT in the large cage on her carport. Her daughter would be there just a few minutes later to take TT inside the house. I opened a can of food and placed it inside the cage with TT. After being stuck in the tree for two nights, he was very hungry, and he fully focused his attention on the food until he had finished every last morsel. After that, he was very affectionate with me. He thanked me repeatedly for getting him out of that tree and taking him back home. I enjoyed visiting with that sweet boy and hated to leave him there, but I knew the daughter was on her way, and he would soon be safe and comfortable inside.
