Cat Rescue Guy

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...

Tiffany and Todd's eighteen-month-old cat, Bruno, is not a bold and daring cat, so they were shocked to see this indoor-only boy run outside and climb a tree next to their house in Paulina, Louisiana. They loved this sweet, gentle boy who sleeps with them every night, and they did everything they knew to get him out of that tree, but all their efforts failed, and the local fire department failed as well. The situation surrounding Bruno's rescue held a bit more drama than usual, but most of the drama is not visible in the rescue video. T he video shows only the final action that brought this drama to an end. What you don't see are the five days of intense anguish, tears, and stress that Tiffany and Todd experienced while their beloved baby paced and cried at the top of the tree. They thought that no one could possibly rescue him, and they would have to watch him slowly die there. You also don't see the misery that Bruno experienced as he felt helplessly and precariously ...

When Jonathan's daughter closed the door to their home in rural Ponchatoula, Louisiana, she didn't notice that the latch didn't quite catch. The family left without knowing that the door would  soon open itself slightly and attract the attention of their indoor-only cat, Cessna. This new portal to a huge, interesting, outside world must have been irresistible to nine-month-old Cessna, and when the family returned home, they found the door ajar and Cessna missing. They searched all over but could not find her. The daughter was especially bonded with Cessna, and she felt sick with guilt over her mistake and the result it caused. After five days of fruitless searching, they were beginning to feel hopeless when Jonathan finally heard Cessna crying from a tree beyond a neighbor's house  almost 500 feet away from home. Cessna was stuck high in a huge Sweetgum tree, and had likely spent the past five days there suffering through some cold nights. It was late in the afternoon w...

I have enjoyed so many sweet, cooperative kitties to rescue lately that I have forgotten how to handle an uncooperative one. Harley was the last in my long, cooperative-kitty streak, and she was followed the next day by uncooperative Molly. Both kitties are gray/brown tabbies, both are female, and both were stuck in a tree for three cold nights. Harley is a three-year-old in rural Holden, Louisiana, and Molly is a four-year-old in Mandeville, Louisiana. Harley got stuck in a Cow Oak next to the front porch when a neighbor's loose dog chased her. She was about 20 feet high, miserable, and desperately wanted down, so when I climbed up to her, she didn't need to be wooed or convinced. She stepped on my lap, and I decided to take her down that way. She huddled close to me on my lap and stayed still until she was just a couple feet off the ground. She jumped down to the ground, ran onto the porch to see her family, and then went straight to her food bowl. I love rescues like this. M...

It is not often that food works to motivate a scared cat in a tree to come to me, but when it does, it can be a life-saver for both me and the cat. Normally, a scared cat, no matter how long he has been in the tree or how hungry he might be, has no interest in food at all. What's most important to the cat at that moment is to escape the danger he is facing, and hunger is not even on his radar. Offering food to a cat at that time is usually a waste of food and time, but sometimes, when I have no other options, I will do it just to see if it will at least help the cat view me in a more benevolent light. However, there have been a few times when the sight, sound, or scent of food acts like flipping a switch on the cat, and regardless of how frightened he may have been before, either he suddenly thinks of me as his best friend or he doesn't care who I am, and he comes straight toward me to get the food. While Aspen's transformation was not quite that sudden and dramatic, she ce...