Cat Rescue Guy

When a tiny kitten mysteriously appeared in the storage building in the backyard of their home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Marlee and Brian were puzzled. No owner could be found, so they adopted the kitten into their home where she settled in quite nicely with their dogs. Nada is about seven months old now, and she got stuck for one night in a tree on the other side of the canal that borders their backyard. I could not approach the tree without wading through the water in the canal, and the tree was bordered on two sides by electrical power lines. I am very grateful for the nice and accommodating backyard neighbor who allowed me to approach the tree from her backyard, because I'm not sure I could have found a way to climb the tree otherwise. Nada was worried about me, but she didn't want to climb any higher. She let me get close and touch her, but she still had reservations about me. She was in an awkward spot to reach, so when I started working my way closer to her, I could see...

I felt very incompetent when trying to rescue Ollie. His situation was a bit delicate, and I wasn't sure what to do with this boy. Ollie is a three-year-old brown tabby belonging to Allison and Joyce in Albany, Louisiana, and Ollie had been missing for a few days when they finally found him stuck in a tree in the woods about 800 feet from home. It's quite remarkable that they even found him in the woods so far away, but they were determined to find him and did not give up. If Ollie came down or fell down out of the tree, it was not clear if he would know how to find his way back home. In addition, I had seen some loose dogs in the area, so I wanted to be sure that I secured Ollie in some kind of container such as a bag, carrier or trap. This is not a case where it is acceptable for the cat to jump or fall out of the tree unsecured, so, to play it safe, I gave Joyce a net to use to try to catch him if that should happen. My intention was to climb up there and get Ollie, but I wa...

Poncho picked a bad tree in a bad spot. This three-year-old kitty climbed a large, leaning tree surrounded by dense undergrowth next to a meandering ravine in the wooded area behind his house in rural St Francisville, Louisiana, and he had been stuck there for three nights. It was a difficult spot for installing a rope, and in the two hours it took me to finish the troublesome task, I had created quite a scary commotion in the tree.  Poncho is normally a sweet, friendly kitty, but he was not about to trust me in the tree with him  after what I had just done to him. He gave me the cold shoulder and hid his face from me. I knew he would relax once I gave him a gentle touch, but I didn't want to startle him, and I could not get him to look at me. I gave him some gentle pets anyway, and, as you can see in the video (below), that was all he needed to "flip the switch" and trust me. He turned around and introduced himself to me, and we became friends very quickly. Now that he w...

One look at Kiki Nunu's face, and you will see a very sweet kitty who is very much loved. Look a little closer, and you will also see a hyperactive trouble-maker. This four-month-old kitty is full of energy and life, and she wants to do and experience everything. It was only a matter of time before she climbed the tree in the corner of her backyard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and learned that she didn't know how to go back down. She showed no restraint in expressing her distress in being stuck up there, and she let the whole neighborhood know it. While it was a little tricky for me to get a rope installed in this tree, Kiki Nunu's rescue was otherwise quite easy. She was ready for me and needed no introductions. She quickly stepped on my lap, and I pulled the bag up around her and took her home. After she took a nap to recover from her sleepless night in the tree, she was ready to go find some more trouble. After rescuing Kiki Nunu, I went to Denham Springs, Louisiana to resc...

It's a mystery how this cat suddenly appeared in a tree in the woods by Rachel's rural home near Ethel, Louisiana. Rachel has few neighbors, but she sent a text message to each of them to see if anyone knew anything about this cat. She checked the Lost Pets pages for her area and beyond, but there were no reports about a missing cat like this one. She first heard the cat crying one night but was unable to locate it until the next day high in a tree. All we knew about this cat by the time I arrived the next day was that it had been stuck in the tree for at least two nights. The cat was hard to find and see. He was resting about 50 feet high in a large fork of the stem, and the gray color of his coat blended in well with the shaggy bark of the tree. If this cat is afraid of me, then this could be a very difficult and long rescue with all the room he has to roam in this very large tree. As I climbed up to him, I was hoping against the odds that he would be friendly, and I was plea...

Rufus climbed a Poison Ivy tree. Yes, I know that Poison Ivy is a vine, and, yes, technically, there was a struggling Tallow tree underneath the surface that provided the structural support, but when Poison Ivy dominates a tree like this and is the only thing visible on the outside, I feel reasonably justified in calling this a Poison Ivy tree. Contact with the vine is unavoidable, but, fortunately, my body has been exposed to it so much during the rescues I have done that it hardly reacts to it anymore. The biggest problem I have with it is how annoying it is and how it limits my climbing options. Now, getting back to Rufus. Rufus is a one-year-old kitty in Denham Springs, Louisiana who got stuck about 30 feet high in the top fork of the Poison Ivy tree, and he spent one long, miserable night there desperate to get down. His rescue was easy if you overlook the slow, strenuous climb through the irritating vines to reach him. Once I was within reach of him, I held a carrier up to him, a...

I have been enjoying a long string of easy kitties to rescue lately, so I knew I was overdue for a difficult one, and that difficult one turned out to be an unknown cat who had been stuck in a tree in Mandeville, Louisiana for five nights. John and his wife were very concerned about this strange cat who appeared in the Sweet Gum tree next to their driveway, and they did all they could to help it come down. They didn't recognize the cat, so they spoke to their neighbors and posted on all the appropriate local online forums, but no one had any information about it. While I was told the cat cried frequently in days past, it was pretty quiet when I arrived, and I was not getting a warm feeling about it. When I climbed up to him, he moved a little farther out his limb, turned around, and squatted down there facing me with a "don't you dare" look on his face. Well, of course, I am going to dare, but I will do so gently and slowly. I reached my hand out toward him, and he st...