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 was facing me, I could see that he was a special boy with eyes of different colors.
I spread the bottom of the cat bag over my lap and tried to encourage him to step on it, but he wouldn't do it even when I enticed him with some dry food. I don't normally expect dry food to be very attractive to a dehydrated kitty, but dry food was the only food he normally ate at home. Since that didn't work, I opened a can of food, and, while he didn't recognize the sound of the can opening, he certainly recognized the scent of the food. The wet food energized him, and he readily stepped on my lap to reach it. Once I had all four of his feet in place, I pulled the sides of the bag up around him and secured him inside.
As I took him down, he lost control of his bladder and peed in the bag. Cats don't like to pee in the tree, so they hold it as long as they can, and when they get excited or frightened, they can't hold it any longer and must let it go. Poor Poncho. By the time we reached the ground, the bag was soaked. I carried him out of the woods and across the ravine to give him to Sara who had patiently waited throughout the entire, lengthy ordeal. She took him home and got him settled and fed, and Poncho is doing just fine now. I had to climb back up the tree to free a line that had gotten stuck in the tree when I was trying to install my rope, but that went quickly, and I was down and packed up by sunset. Yes, it was all a lot of trouble, but it was still so worth it to bring an end to the suffering of a sweet kitty and his family.
