Cat Rescue Guy

When Kelsey arrived at her friend's house in Denham Springs, Louisiana to adopt two new kittens, she was surprised to find one of the kittens stuck 30 feet high in a tree. The kittens are three months old, and she had not given them a name yet. She temporarily called the tabby boy Kitty Kitty, and it was that tabby boy who was stuck in the tree. Kitty Kitty was described as a very sociable, friendly boy who would happily walk up to any stranger. I love to hear that about cats I am about to rescue. There is never a guarantee that the cat will be that friendly with me in the tree, but the odds are certainly much better. I certainly understand that many cats have legitimate reasons for not fully trusting me when I climb up to them in the tree, but I still often tend to be a bit naive and expect all cats to welcome me, and it sometimes hurts my feelings when they run away in fear. I try to explain to them, "I'm a good guy." "You can trust me, kitties," but I don

Beauty is her name, and it's a perfect fit for this pretty, four-year-old torby who belongs to Stella in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Stella always brings Beauty inside for the night, but this time, Beauty objected to her confinement and made a mad dash for the door. She escaped outside and resisted all of Stella's efforts to get her back inside. The next day, Stella found Beauty stuck in a tree at the fence line next to the house, and while Beauty was now eager to go back inside, she didn't know how to climb down the tree. Beauty was only twenty feet high in the tree, but she had forty feet of tree above her she could use if needed. She is one who normally runs away from strangers, and I did not want to be chasing Beauty all over this tree. I approached her slowly and gently, and I was happy to find her calm and only slightly cautious. After a quick sniff of my hand and a gentle pat, she relaxed fully and we became friends very easily. She is not normally a lap-sitter, but I ga

One-year-old Oscar escaped his house and climbed a tall Sweetgum tree in his front yard in rural McComb, Mississippi, and he was stuck there about 35 feet high. Travis tried everything he knew to help his sweet orange and white kitty come down, but nothing was working. This happened once before, and Travis learned then that there were no local resources to help. Fortunately, Oscar either came down or fell down after four days in the tree, so Travis was hoping he would do it again this time. But Oscar was still stuck in the tree after seven days, and by that time, Travis found someone who referred him to me. From the way Oscar appeared while I was on the ground, I thought I had a good chance of meeting a receptive and friendly kitty up in the tree, but it didn't quite work out that way. I climbed on the opposite side of the trunk from Oscar where we could not see each other. That was not intentional this time as it often is when I am trying to climb above a scared cat to prevent him

We don't know how long this unknown kitty may have been stuck in the Pine tree before Heather happened to notice it on her property in Picayune, Mississippi, but it was stuck two more nights in that tree before I arrived to rescue it. The kitty was panting constantly during the hot, rainless, August days, and every time that Heather went out to check on it, the kitty would look at her and plead loudly for help. It broke Heather's animal-loving heart to see this kitty suffering, and her numerous pleas for help eventually led her to me. Privately, I thought this would be a super-easy rescue, because the cat appeared very friendly, desperate for help, and was very calm during the rope installation process. When I climbed up to her, I noticed she would pull back once I came too close, so I pulled back to keep her from climbing higher. She wasn't sure about me, so I needed to spend some time convincing her of my trustworthiness. My attempts to earn her trust were not working, an

When someone contacts me about a rescue that is two or three hours from me, I normally refer them to someone closer, and I also advise them about some do-it-yourself options suitable for their circumstances. This, combined with those cats who come down on their own, often results in a successful resolution without my having to make a long drive. This was my response to Susan who contacted me about an unknown cat who was stuck in a tree in her backyard in Long Beach, Mississippi. Susan called the local rescuers but never got a return call from them, and that wasted one day. The next day, she arranged for a tree service to come out, but that didn't work out either. The next day, she and her husband, Bruce, made a ramp for the cat to come down on his own, but it was not quite adequate for the cat to use. When I saw this picture of what they had done, I offered a suggestion to improve it so the cat could successfully use it, and they did that. The cat was not high, and their ramp from