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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...

Millie

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How am I supposed to rescue a three-year-old cat who is skittish with strangers and doesn't like anyone to touch her or pick her up? Well, if it's Millie, the long-hair princess kitty in Hammond, Louisiana, the answer is simply to let her step on my lap. Of course, I spread the bottom of the cat bag over my lap first. I wasn't expecting it to be that easy, and I had been planning for all kinds of other options, but I approached Millie gently and slowly, and she responded with trust. That, and she desperately wanted to get down out of that tree after spending one long miserable night there. To be fair, she was certainly nervous when I first approached her, and at one point I could see her looking upward for an escape path even though she really didn't want to go there, but in the end, gentle patience won the game. Millie was slow about getting on my lap. First, she placed only her front legs on my lap and then stepped back on the limb. She did that two more times and eve...

TT's Second Rescue

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Is this a coincidence? That was my first response when Latonya gave me the address where she found an unknown cat stuck in a tree. The address was only two houses down from the address in Zachary, Louisiana where I rescued a cat for one of her neighbors just one week ago. Latonya did not know the cat or its owner, but I had to wonder if this was the same cat. It's black and white, and it appears friendly, so I thought it could be TT, the sweet cat I rescued before. I contacted TT's owner, Lillian, and learned that she was out of town, but her daughter went over there to check, and, yes, sure enough, it's TT. He did it again. TT's first rescue was very easy. He was in a clean, accessible, front-yard Oak tree, and, after he got over his initial fear of my rope which he thought might be a snake, he was very friendly, came straight to me, and stepped into the carrier. I was expecting the same this second time, so,  when Latonya led me to the tree,  I was a bit dismayed to s...

Two-Face

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Two-Face was very distressed at being stuck in that tree in her neighbor's yard in rural Jackson, Louisiana. This energetic, nine-month-old kitty had been stuck for one night, and she was desperate to get down and back home. She loudly begged everyone to help her down, but no one seemed to be doing anything. When I arrived, she pleaded with me to help her, but I, too, seemed no more useful than everyone else until I was eventually ready to climb the tree. She was so happy and energized to see me coming up to her that she started walking far out the limb. At first, I thought she was scared, but she was just so energized that she had to do something. She came right back and was there to greet me when I reached her height. After our easy introductions, she was ready to go home, and she wanted to be sure she didn't miss this ride home. She stepped on my lap before I could get ready for her. As you will hear on the video, the wind that day was very strong and constant, but after she...

TT

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Lillian had been searching for her cat, TT, for five days when she finally found him in a neighbor's large Oak tree. She called me right away, but I was busy with another rescue and could not get there until the next morning. One-year-old TT spent a total of five nights in that tree in Zachary, Louisiana, but at least he was on large branches and wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as he would have been in most other trees. Even so, he was mighty desperate to get down, and his pleading cries for help were heart-breaking to hear when I arrived. Even from the ground, I could tell that TT was going to be friendly and cooperative, and I was right. His rescue was easy. I simply held an open carrier in front of him, and he stepped inside for an easy ride back down to the ground where Lillian was waiting to carry him back home. What made the rescue interesting and worthy of a video (below), however, was his initial reluctance to come to me when it was clear he wanted to do so. He kept look...

Benson

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Poor little Benson. He had such a rough and traumatic day. This one-year-old kitty belonging to Lisa near Loranger, Louisiana went outside, got stuck in an exposed spot in a pitiful Tallow tree,  got tossed around during a long, violent, drenching storm, and then suffered the terrifying experience of being picked up by a catch-pole. I don't like using the catch-pole, but I had no other choices in this situation. The unhealthy, slender tree was one-sided and leaning, and Benson went up near the top of the stem where I could not go without breaking the entire stem. A bolder cat would have come down closer to me, but Benson is not a bold boy, and he sat stubbornly there waiting passively for me to come to him. He is a friendly, gentle boy and would have welcomed me if I had come to him, but we were at an impasse. I expected him to handle the catch-pole in a docile manner as most tame cats do, but he hated it and fought it. He grabbed the limb so tightly that I could not pull him away....