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Cat stuck in a tree?

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It happens all the time. All cats are natural tree climbers, but when it is time to come down, some cats know how to climb down and some don’t. Those that don’t know how to come down are truly stuck. When the cat is stuck, the cat and its owner are both suffering, and that suffering is needlessly prolonged when numerous people convince the owner that all cats come down on their own. That is not true. Some cats will come down, but some won't. If the cat has had enough time to figure out how to come down on its own and is still stuck, then it's time for a rescue. Rescue Service Learn about my rescue service , view  video highlights  or a  gallery of images of past rescues, and read the blog of individual rescue stories using either the Rescue Stories page or the blog archive link in the sidebar. All the links, as well as my contact information, are in the navigation sidebar. All About Cats in Trees The subject of cats in trees is poorly understood by the general p...

Princess' Seventh Rescue

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There are quite a few cats who I have rescued multiple times. Simba still currently holds the record with eight rescues, but close on his heels are two other cats: Simon with seven rescues, and now Princess with seven. While Simba and Simon were almost always in a different tree for each rescue, Princess is unique in that each and every one of her seven rescues was in the same tree. That becomes expected when you learn that there is only one tree in her enclosed backyard, so she has no other place to escape when that mean tomcat unexpectedly intrudes into her yard. So here we are yet again for the seventh time in two years with Princess stuck in the same tree again. Princess is an easy cat to rescue because she is sweet and cooperative. Each time, all I have to do is climb the short distance up to her, hold a carrier in front of her, and she will readily step inside for a safe ride back down to the ground. I have reported most of her rescues, but I just realized that I have never made ...

Chrissy

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How am I supposed to rescue a skittish cat at the top of a dead tree? That was the problem I faced when I was called out to Watson, Louisiana to rescue Chrissy, a one-year-old calico who had been stuck in the tree for one night. Chrissy was 40 feet high on the only remaining limb at the top of a dead tree whose top had broken off. Much of the bark was missing and the exposed wood was clearly rotting. The usu al way to rescue a cat in a tree is to climb the tree, but this tree was dead and unsafe to climb, so what can I do? Of course, the simplest option is to use a bucket truck, but I don't have a bucket truck, and even if one were available, it was not clear if it could get close enough to reach the dead tree, and it would have to park in the road where it would be blocking traffic in both directions.  Another  option is to install a "highline," that is, a long rope pulled very tightly between two taller trees on opposite sides of the dead tree and attach my rope to the ...

Curtis, Sweetie and Luna

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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...

Boots and Ponyo

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Boots and Ponyo were both rescued on the same day, but, otherwise, these two kitties are not related. Boots is in Covington, Louisiana, and Ponyo is thirty minutes down the road in Ponchatoula. Both were stuck in a tree for two nights, both were about 50 feet high, and both were sweet, cooperative kitties who stepped on my lap for a lap-bag rescue. They are also both victims of a camera malfunction -- most likely operator error -- that resulted in very few pictures of the rescue. Boots is four years old, and he was stuck high in a Pine tree at the edge of the wooded area behind his house. He was very unhappy about being stuck there, and he complained about it constantly and loudly. He didn't stop fussing until I climbed up there with him, and he sure was glad to see me. As I sat with him a minute and prepared for his rescue, he walked along the limb next to my head and rubbed his face against mine. Boots is a very affectionate boy. When I spread the bottom of the cat bag over my la...

Little, Binx and Mabel

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Max and Ronan were very worried about their one-year-old cat, Little, who was stuck in a tree at the edge of the woods behind the horse pasture by their house in Baker, Louisiana. Little had been perched about 50 feet high in a lonely and exposed spot at the end of a long, high limb for three nights, and they had run out of ideas to help him down until they found me after doing a quick search on the internet. Fortunately, Little is a friendly and sociable boy, and I did not have to work hard to get him to come along that limb to me near the trunk. He came to me, let me pet him, and was happy to have some company. He eagerly stepped on my lap where I had already spread the cat bag, and I pulled the sides of the bag up around him to secure him inside for the ride back down to the ground. Max and Ronan were happy to have Little safe in their arms again, and they took him home to recover from his miserable adventure. Later, they sent to me this picture of him sleeping soundly in a soft, co...