'ZELDA' - A Rainy REscue of an IMpatient Kitty

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It was a Monday morning, and the Kat Fone yowled -- while I was teaching class! Ooops. Apologizing to the students, I fumbled with the phone trying to silence it and only managed to answer it and then hang up on the confused lady on the other end. I am a master at the art of the good first impression! After classes were over, I listened to the voice mail and then called Dianne back, who had a 4-month old rescue kitty ("Zelda") who had been stuck overnight in the rain and 40 degree temperatures. The kitty was in Ridgeland, MS (near Jackson) and a glance at the weather map and forecast showed drizzly rain all the way from Starkville to there. I decided to head on down since the rain was light, and it was supposed to rain even heavier that night and get colder. I told Dianne that I would be there at around 2:00 pm.

When I pulled up at the house, it was drizzling only slightly, which was good as I don't have any experience at climbing in rain. Dianne came out and she did not even have to show me the tree, because I could hear Zelda's crying the moment that I exited the truck. She was stuck 30 feet up an oak tree at the first large branch, and was very upset. Fortunately, the tree had many strong unions above Zelda, so it looked like an easy climb. The tree was in a neighbors yard, and Zelda had been chased up the tree by their two dogs. The neighbor had graciously locked up the dogs and was also eager for me to get poor Zelda out of the tree. I carried all of my equipment to the tree, and installed a climbing line. This process was very interesting to Zelda, who first tried chasing my throw line as I hauled the climbing rope by her perch, and then she wanted to climb higher to where the climbing line was installed! Fortunately, Dianne kept talking to her and convinced Zelda to stay where she was. As I climbed up to Zelda, she let me know with loud cries how eager she was to be out of the tree. When I drew next to her, I let her sniff my fingers to get acquainted, but each time I tried to scratch her chin, she hissed at me, not yet trusting me. I decided to try the kitty treat trick again, so I fetched them out of my ditty bag. It took me a while to get the treats open, and when I looked back to Zelda, she did something that was a first time event for me -- check out the video! We did make it back to the ground safely, with Zelda alternately growling and purring in the Kat bag. Dianne took charge of the wet kitty, and brought her inside for warmth and food. Dianne also made a very generous donation to the Oktibbeha County Humane Society! In the end, it was a safe and successful rescue for both myself and Zelda.