Neo, Prince and Samantha

The pace of summer rescues has slowed down quite a bit, but it hasn't stopped. I know at least three kitties who managed to get stuck in a tree recently, and the first one was Neo, a sweet, sociable, ten-month-old girl kitty in Denham Springs, Louisiana. She was stuck for one night at the top of a small tree immediately next to a large Pine tree. I climbed the large Pine tree and pulled myself over to her, and she had no reservations about me at all. We introduced ourselves to each other, and then I lifted her out of her perch and placed her on my lap. I had already spread the bottom of the cat bag over my lap, so all I did was give her some reassuring pets and then pull the sides of the bag up around her. After a short ride back down to the ground, she was safe and happy back inside.

After that was Prince, a sweet, eight-year-old kitty in rural Zachary, Louisiana who I had rescued once before eight months ago in the same tree. Similar to Neo's situation, Prince was in a small offshoot of a large Pine tree, so I climbed the large Pine and pulled myself over to him. Prince readily accepted me in the tree with him the first time, but this time, he had some fussing to do before I could convince him that I was friendly. He especially warmed up to me when I let him taste the squeeze-tube treat I had for him, and then he stepped on my lap where I had already prepared the cat bag. I secured him in the bag and brought him back down to his worried and loving family to bring an end to his two-night stay in the tree.

Samantha, the three-year-old kitty in Pride, Louisiana was not as easy to rescue. She was high in a Sweetgum tree on the edge of a creek, and she was not as receptive to strangers as Neo and Prince. I had to go slow and patient with her to be sure she did not climb higher or go out on a limb to escape from me. Once I reached about ten feet below her, progress was very slow. It was one, slow step at a time with each step followed by a long adjustment period, and then, once I was level with her, the pace slowed down even more while I tried to earn her trust. It was working, and she was relaxing, but she had no interest in any kind of food or treat, and she was not cooperating at all. She simply needed more time to adjust, so I gave it to her, and almost thirty minutes after I first approached her, she made a gesture of high trust by stepping on my lap and settling down there. Oh, what a wonderful feeling of accomplishment it is to win the trust of a scared cat. I savored that moment for a few seconds and then pulled the bag up around her and took her back down to the ground as gently as I could. Jarrod and Kacey took her back inside, and, after she settled back in, she found a high spot on top of the furniture to settle in for a nap.