Snooki

I can't explain it. I don't know why I haven't had to rescue a cat stuck in a tree for over three weeks. Such is the random nature of the "business" plus the fact that fewer cats get stuck in a tree during the hot season here. It has been so quiet lately that I began to wonder if my phone was broken, but this May vacation has been interrupted now thanks to a sweet, but cautious, orange tabby girl named Snooki.

Snooki is about four months old, and she was stuck in an old, tall Oak tree which was covered with vines and closely bordered on two sides by some dangerous electrical power lines. These lines did not touch the tree at any point, but the tall tree hung over them, and they were still close enough to be very concerning. To prevent shooting my line over the power lines, I always shoot away from them, but with the lines bordering two sides of the tree, I was very limited in places where I could shoot to install my rope. The only good place available was the same, large limb on which Snooki was standing, and that risks scaring her even more than usual. Fortunately, she handled it very well and was even curious enough to investigate the rope more closely as I worked to install it.

I climbed through the vines and around an annoying small Palm tree which was growing closely under the Oak tree and climbed up to Snooki's limb. She is normally a friendly girl, but she was a little cautious with me. She stayed in her perch a few feet away from me while cautiously watching and evaluating me to see if I was a threat. I worked with her a few minutes, and by the time I used another rope to pull myself a little higher so my lap was level with her limb, she decided I was trustworthy. She came down to me and sniffed my hand a few times, and she was soon enjoying the petting I was giving her. She showed an interest in stepping on my lap, so I prepared the cat bag over my lap and encouraged her to step on it. Space on my lap was very limited, however, by the ropes I was using to hold myself in position. I wasn't sure it would work to bag her that way, but once she stepped fully on my lap, we gave it a try and quickly learned that it just wasn't going to work. At one point, I thought I had her in the bag, but she backed out of it onto the limb again. Even though that failed, I was gentle and calm enough that I did not lose her trust. I prepared the cat bag over my arm instead and resorted to bagging her in the conventional manner by holding her by the scruff and enveloping her inside the bag.

Once she was back home, she ate some food, took a nap on a comfortable lap, and resumed her rule over her canine siblings.