Curtis, Sweetie and Luna
One long day. A 400 mile loop. Three rescues.
That just about sums up the day except to say that this was possible only because all three cats were sweet and cooperative.
First was an unknown cat who had been stuck in a tree for at least four nights in Pearl River, Louisiana. A neighbor reported him to me, but I went there without knowing the cat owner or the property owner. I was planning to knock on the property owner's door to see if they would let me rescue the kitty, but I got lucky and found both the property owner and cat owner there outside looking at the cat when I arrived. I introduced myself and offered to rescue the cat, and they both welcomed me with relief. Trent is the cat owner, and his cat's name is Curtis. Curtis had been missing for ten days, and Trent was greatly relieved to finally find his five-year-old boy in this tree. We don't know exactly how long Curtis had been stuck in the tree, but we are sure that the neighbor who reported him knew that Curtis was there for the past four nights. However long it was, Curtis certainly felt it was much too long, and he begged to us on the ground for help. He was far out on the lowest drooping limb, and when he saw me climbing up the tree, he began walking all the way back to the trunk to meet me. Curtis wins the prize for giving me the most affectionate greeting I have ever had from a cat in a tree. This long-haired boy rubbed his soft face all over me, including my face, my chin, my hands, my legs, as well as all my climbing gear and the tree. He was already on my lap with his front paws on my chest as he pushed his head into my chin, and since we were not high and he was close to home, I decided to let him ride down to the ground unsecured on my lap. Once we were close to the ground, he jumped down to the ground and walked over to Trent and started rubbing his face on him. They were both quite happy to see each other again, and it was a touching sight to see them get reunited. After Curtis spent a few minutes with Trent, he walked back over to me for one last rub as if to say, "thank you." I got very few pictures of Curtis because he spent most of the time in my face and was too close to the camera.
From there, I drove to McHenry, Mississippi to rescue another unknown kitty who had been stuck in a tree in the woods behind Lindsay's house for three nights. Lindsay did not recognize the cat, and it didn't belong to any of her immediate neighbors. She assumed it belonged to one of the other neighbors in the area, so she posted a notice on the local online resources and hoped the owner would come forward. By the time I arrived, however, no one had claimed the kitty. The cat had been clinging to the flimsy end of a high limb in a smallish Pine tree and stayed clinging to that same spot even during periods of high winds. The cat and I both did not know what to expect from each other when I climbed up to her, but it didn't take long for us to develop a friendship. She had been clinging to that spot because another Pine tree was leaning heavily into her tree, and the tip of that tree was pressed against her limb and blocking her path back to the trunk. A bolder cat would have pushed through the foliage, but she was not that bold. When I pushed the foliage away from her limb, she readily walked down the limb to me, sniffed my hand, and let me pet her. Now for the first time, I could see that she was a juvenile Russian Blue, and I knew then that I could not simply release her on the ground and hope she returns home. She came all the way to me and stepped on my lap before I was ready with the cat bag. I prepared the bag and got her to step on it while I pulled the sides of the bag up around her to secure her inside. Except for her constant purring, she was quiet and still in the bag all the way back down to the ground. Since she was so calm and trusting, I released her from the bag knowing she would not run away. I opened a can of food for her, and she started eating it and following it as I moved it to the back of a carrier. I closed the carrier door while she continued to eat. After I packed up all my gear, I found the address of the local county SPCA, drove there very quickly before they closed, and was very relieved to learn from the kind person there that they would be happy to take this kitty, have her spayed, try to find her owner, and if no owner is found they will find a new home for her. A sweetie like this will certainly be adopted, so I left there relieved to know that she was in good hands and her future was bright. I also decided then that I would call her Sweetie.
I have no pictures of Luna's rescue because someone forgot to turn off the camera after the previous rescue, and the battery died by the time I arrived to rescue Luna.
