Cat Rescue Guy

Alley is a tame, sweet, young calico who had been stuck in a tree for seven nights before I got the call to rescue her.  She had been stuck once before in another tree but somehow found her way down on her fifth day.  More than likely she fell, but she won't talk about it and holds that secret to this day.  Her family was hoping she would find her way down again this time, but it was not happening.  With the help of their out-of-state daughter who did some web searches, they finally found me on Alley's eighth day. It was a 45-minute drive out to their very rural home where I found Alley about 30 feet high in a tree next to the driveway.  This picture shows her position circled in red.  I was told that Alley was a very tame lap cat who showed no fear or stress around strangers, so I was hoping for an easy rescue.  Indeed, she was a very cooperative kitty and a quick and easy rescue. I thought she might be more interested in water than food afte...

There is so much we do not know about Lanie.  She was discovered and reported by a good Samaritan who happened to notice her stuck in a tree nearby while he was having lunch at a local public park.  We don't know where Lanie came from, who she belongs to, how she got there, how long she had been in the tree, or even her name.  We don't know if she wandered there, was dumped there, or if she stowed away in a vehicle which stopped nearby.  There were no Lost Cat signs in the area, and no posts on the local lost pets website for her. I found her in the tree walking along a branch about 12 feet high and calling urgently for somebody to help her.  She walked on the branch toward me calling to me as I approached her, so it appeared that she would be a cooperative kitty.  She also demonstrated to me that she could walk the branch down to the trunk of the tree which was even lower.  Since she was cooperative and low enough, I saw no need to climb the tree. ...

Kini (pronounced keen-ee) is a mostly-indoor, mostly-black cat who got herself in trouble when she, unknown to her family, hid in their truck while they drove a few blocks from home early one morning.  When the truck stopped, she jumped out and found herself facing a very unfriendly dog.  Kini ran up the nearest tree and escaped the dog, but she found herself stuck in a tree in a foreign territory.  Kini's owner, Marie, tried to coax her down, but she just could not manage it.  Marie was worried that if Kini managed to come down on her own, she would not know where she was or how to get back home.  So Marie sat with her all day long to be sure she would be there when or if Kini came down. It was late that afternoon when I got the call, and it would take me at least an hour and a half to get there, probably longer given the Friday afternoon rush-hour traffic.  Normally, I would have offered to go early the next morning, but when I learned that Kini was w...

Mulatto is a sweet, tame black-and-white girl who had been stuck in this cypress tree for one night.  The small limbs on this tree provided very uncomfortable footing and no place to rest.  When I arrived, I found her here resting her belly and back legs over a tiny branch which must have been very uncomfortable.  She had to alternate between standing with discomfort on her feet or resting with the discomfort of a small branch digging into her belly.  The  strain of this in the hot August days left her exhausted, panting and dehydrated. All of the limbs of this tree were very small, but I found one up very high that was substantial enough to hold my weight.  There was not much room to weave my body around and through all the closely-spaced branches, but Mulatto was only about 18 feet high, so it would not be difficult very long. Fortunately, Mulatto was not afraid of me and allowed me to approach her and pet her.  Since she was friendly, I wanted...

I know.  This is a cat rescue site, so what is an iguana doing here?  Well, if your pet iguana gets loose and climbs a tree what are you going to do?  If you think finding a tree-climbing cat rescuer is difficult, try finding an iguana rescuer. I admit I was very hesitant to agree to give this a try when I first got the call.  I know absolutely nothing about iguanas, but these people really cared about their pet.  The owner had already tried to rescue the iguana with a home-made catch pole while standing on a ladder on the roof of the house resulting in a fall for both.  Fortunately, no one was harmed in the process, but the iguana ran to another tree and found safety in its branches.  I had to at least take a look to see if I could do anything. I went out to the site and was told that the iguana was in this very large tree with numerous very long branches.  My heart sank as I thought of how difficult it would be to get close to an iguana i...