Cat Rescue Guy

This is the fifth time I have rescued Simon, and because I know what many of you are thinking, I want first to offer an explanation to ease your mind. Yes, Simon is an inside cat. Yes, his family knows he likes to escape and does what they can to prevent that, but Simon can be very sneaky and determined. Also, Simon is unusual in that he has a magnetic attraction to trees, so when he escapes, he runs straight to them. To prevent him from climbing, his family has nail caps put on his claws, and, in fact, this time when he escaped, it was just two hours before his appointment to get new nail caps. One more thing: Simon is a cool, super-sweet, cooperative kitty, and I love to rescue him. All that said, it's true that his rescue count is getting up there. Indeed, he is now tied for second place among all the cats I have rescued. He still needs three more rescues to catch up with the leader, but given his circumstances and youth -- he is nineteen months old -- I think it's possible ...

After rescuing Lily in Kaplan, Louisiana, I was driving home on the interstate when I got a call from Christie asking if I could rescue a cat in a tree in Geismar. The cat was unknown and high in a tree on a large common area marking the entrance to a subdivision. I drove straight there, and Christie was waiting there for me when I arrived. She pointed to the tall Cypress tree in the distance, and I dropped my jaw when I saw a tiny speck of white pacing back and forth on the top limb about 80 feet high. The tree is larger than it appears in this picture. The cat was crying loudly and desperately for help, and the crying intensified as the cat noticed us walking toward her. She became so excited to see us focusing our attention on her that she began to try to climb down. She could not hold on to the tree very well and had to pull herself back up on the same limb, but she continued to be excited. My plan was to install my rope on a sturdy limb about 20 feet below the cat and then work my...

I was contacted by three different extended family members -- all roughly at the same time and each without the knowledge of the others -- about a cat stuck in a tree in Kaplan, Louisiana. After I determined that these were all referring to the same cat instead of three different cats, I learned that the entire extended family was heavily involved in finding help for this one beloved, nine-month-old calico. The cat's name is Lily, and she lives with Doies, Ashley, and their two children, all of whom were very upset at her predicament and their inability to help her. It was already well after dark when they contacted me, so I made arrangements to go there the following morning. Lily's rescue was very easy. I installed a rope very close to her and climbed up to find her very relaxed and receptive. It was as if we do this every day. Because of our positions relative to each other, I decided it would be best to secure her in a carrier for descent. I held the open carrier up to her,...

Mark was holding his eighteen-month-old, indoor cat, Takazo, while taking a casual stroll around the yard as they have often done, but this time, something spooked Takazo, and he jumped out of Mark's arms, ran across the yard, and climbed a skinny Pine tree. He settled out near the end of a small limb about 50 feet high and spent two nights there refusing to budge. When I arrived at the site in Ponchatoula, Louisiana and saw where Takazo was, I felt very sorry for him in that precarious, exposed, and lonely spot, and I knew this was not going to be a simple, routine rescue. The video (below) is more effective than this picture at conveying his delicate and hazardous predicament. The tree which Takazo chose to climb was a bit flimsy, so I was not comfortable trying to climb it up to his height. Instead, I chose to climb the larger Pine tree to the left in the picture until I was above Takazo's height. There I installed a rope above him in his tree, and then I used the ropes in b...

Scooter's rescue was easy, but that doesn't make it less meaningful. Scooter had been stuck in his next-door neighbor's tree in Denham Springs, Louisiana for only one night, but the anguish he caused for Jeannie was immense. Jeannie loves her sweet, nine-month-old Snowshoe boy, and she was suffering more than Scooter who seemed to handle his confinement in the tree just fine. Scooter was very relaxed when I climbed up to him, and we became friends right away. Once I got into position to place my lap next to him and spread the bottom of the cat bag over my lap, he calmly stepped on my lap and sat still and quiet while I needed more time than usual to pull the bag up around him. I took him down and returned him to Jeannie who took him home and released him inside. Jeannie was so grateful that she wanted to pay me, but, as I always do, I refused her offer. I tried to explain that I don't want this to be about money. It's about suffering, hers and the cat's, and I f...