Baber and Bella

If you have never experienced having your cat stuck in a tree, you may not fully appreciate just how stressful that can be. If you are already educated about the matter and know who to call for a rescue, then it won't be a serious problem for you. For most people, however, this is the first time they have even thought about it, and they don't know what to expect or where to turn. When they realize that the cat will not come down when called and is well beyond their reach, they begin to feel helpless and powerless. Since they don't know what else to do, they repeatedly try to coax the cat down, but the cat eventually tunes them out and doesn't budge. The pain of watching their cat suffering in a very uncomfortable spot for so long, especially during miserable weather, is torturous. Even after hours of trying to coax the cat down, they feel guilty for going inside to eat or sleep, especially when they can still hear the cat crying to them for help. The instinctive urge to rescue their child will not let them rest. The stress builds further as they begin to worry about the threat of an attack from a hawk, owl or eagle. They worry about the cat falling out of the tree and getting injured, lost or killed by a coyote. They call the fire department only to be refused and wrongly told to put food at the base of the tree. They post on social media asking for help, but all they get in response is wrong and harmful advice from people confidently pretending to be experts on something they have never studied: "The cat will come down when he gets hungry." "They always come down." "I have never seen a cat skeleton in a tree." Some will even make jokes about it or cruelly offer to get it down with their rifle. They feel all alone because no one is helping or even taking it seriously. It feels like there is no solution while the hours and days continue their steady march forward. Ultimately, they realize that they are being forced to watch their cat slowly die over a period of several days, and there is nothing they can do about it. This is more than just stressful. This is torture.

That is what Lynn experienced when her beloved juvenile cat, Baber, got stuck in a tree in the woods next to her rural home in Carson, Mississippi. Lynn felt helpless, frustrated and angry that something could not be done for her sweet kitty, and she was not going to give up without a fight. She boldly reached out and pleaded for help until someone finally put her in touch with me. By the time I arrived there, Baber had spent three nights in the tree. Baber certainly suffered out there all alone in the woods for those three nights, but I think it was Lynn who suffered the most. I never got to meet Lynn in person because she could not be there for the rescue, but her husband, Dale, was there to help in every way he could.

Baber was crying desperately for a rescue, but that didn't mean he was ready to accept help from an ugly stranger like me. He was not comfortable with my presence so close to him in the tree, so he backed off a bit to stay a safe distance from me. I worked hard to charm him, but he wasn't impressed. I spent a long time there with him waiting for him to change his mind about me, and he eventually did so somewhat. He puzzled me a bit, and I could not figure out what he was thinking, but he eventually moved to another limb and then came toward me. I petted him, and he seemed comfortable with it, but he also kept moving. He even moved to the limb running directly beside me and in contact with me. On one hand, he seemed to have fully accepted me while, on the other hand, he seemed to want to get away from me. I blocked his path beyond me and kept him there right by my lap. I held the carrier in front of him thinking that would be attractive to him since he often sleeps in a carrier at home. He didn't voluntarily go into the carrier so I used one hand to lift him under his chest and gently guide him into the carrier. He stepped into it fully, and I closed the door.

I took him back down to the ground, and Dale carried him back home while I packed my gear. He called Lynn to let her know that Baber was safe at home, and I wish I could have seen and heard her as the stress of the past three days finally dissolved and morphed into gratitude. She let me know how much she appreciated this rescue, and it is very rewarding for me to know that I can bring that kind of relief to her.

From there, I drove straight to Madisonville, Louisiana to see if I could bring similar relief to Joey whose seven-year-old cat, Bella, had also been stuck in a tree for three nights. Joey refused to leave Bella alone the first night, so he spent the night out there with her. The second night, he got up every two hours to check on her. During the day, he worked to get her down, and when that failed, he rigged some very long poles together to lift some food up to her. Joey was suffering more than Bella, and it was time to bring this to an end.

Bella was not comfortable with me in the tree with her. Thankfully, she didn't climb higher or even go far out a limb, but she stayed out of reach and refused to let me befriend her. She was just patiently waiting for me to go away. Since I could not befriend her or even reach her without chasing her farther away, I decided to go back down and get my catch-pole. When I climbed back up into the tree, she had moved to a new position where I could finally reach her, so I decided to give her some gentle pets on her back. That gentle touch usually convinces most cats that I am safe, but Bella was the exception. She tolerated a few touches, but then decided she was not going to put up with any more of that. To my surprise, she moved forward and clung to the trunk of the tree and then began to back down. I watched as she backed halfway down the tree and then stopped as shown in this picture. Joey was directly below her ready to catch her if she fell, but Bella did not want that. In her mind, Joey was in her way, so she moved sideways around the trunk to avoid him. I told Joey to back off, and he did. Bella then continued down the trunk, and when she was within reach, Joey went over there to lift her off the trunk. That was not what Bella wanted, and she wriggled out of his arms and then ran under the house to hide. She was safely on the ground, and we knew she would come out as soon as she felt safe. I went down, packed my gear, and left as quickly as I could so that Bella would feel safe to emerge.

A little while later, I got a picture showing Joey smiling and relieved with Bella safe in his arms again. While Bella's face doesn't show it, I know she is relieved too. Even if all I did was scare her down, it still feels good to know that I can help bring an end to all the suffering I saw this day in Bella and Joey as well as Baber and Lynn. Yep, that's a good day's work, and I feel good about that.