"Heather", "Watson", "Garfield" - A Trio of Kitties in Trouble

Details (heather)

Sara texted me and said that Heather (rescued Sep 2015) was in trouble again, this time 40 feet up a pine tree and had been stuck for two days. I told her I could come out day after next. When I arrived, Sara showed me Heather in the tree, who was crying loudly from her perch. Heather had been a skittish kitty before and I had to use the rescue pole, but her cries made me think that she was desperate enough to allow me to touch her this time. After installing a climbing line, I was soon nearing Heather. However, her cries changed into hissing and spitting, and she clambered 10 feet higher up. I asked Sara to pass up the rescue pole and net, and I followed Heather up the tree. After both Heather and myself ran out of climbing space, I raised the rescue pole to try a nab. Heather ducked under it, and descended one limb down. She started going out on this limb, and I was afraid she was going to jump, so I hastily tried to position the noose in front of her so that she could walk into it. However, I moved the pole too fast, bumping into Heather, and I knocked her off the limb. She fell a couple of limbs down, tried to hang on, but then fell to the ground (about 35 feet). Fortunately, Heather was able to do a flying squirrel imitation and stuck a perfect four-feet-pointed-down landing. She ran into the garage, and Sara reported that she was ok. Later that night, I re-verified with Sara that Heather was doing ok. So, I learned an important lesson -- DO NOT KNOCK KITTIES OUT OF TREES WITH YOUR STUPID RESCUE POLE, YOU STUPID HEAD! I will try to remember this important lesson the next time I have to use the dreaded rescue pole. There is no video as I cannot bear to watch Heather falling out of tree -- I have burned it.

Details (Garfield)

On the drive from Heather to Watson, the Kat Fone yowled -- it was Bobby, his adult daughter's family cat, Garfield, was stuck 'way high' up a pine tree in New Hope, MS -- could I help? I said that I would be able to help the next morning.

When I arrived, I met Michelle and Charlie, who owned Garfield. They pointed at a pine tree across the road, and looking up, I spotted some orange fur at about 70 feet. Wow, he was high, and the first good limb was at 60 feet. I have no idea how a 9 year old cat climbed that high, he must have been really scared of something. After a few failures with the Big Shot, I was finally able to install a climbing line at 60 ft. I installed a backup line in a neighboring tree as I did not fully trust the limb that I was on. I started up, and reached my tie-in-point. I then advanced my line to the next good limb about 8 feet up. Once I reached that limb, I saw that Garfield had decided to go further up the tree. The limbs were fairly dense at this point, so I started lanyard climbing above my tie-in point. Occasionally, a light wind would blow, causing my world to sway and my brow to sweat. I prayed that the wind would remain light, else my underwear would need serious cleaning. When I finally reached Garfield, we were at 80 feet, and the tree was 85 feet tall. Fortunately, Garfield was a laid back kitty, and allowed me to scruff him and put him in the Kat bag. I started reversing course down the tree, and before long I was able to hand Garfield off to Michelle who put him in a cage with food and water. He ate and drank some, then wanted out so that he could receive some sweet loving from Michelle, who obliged. The rescue took 3 hours from start to finish, and I was tuckered out from my three rescues in two days! There is no video as my camera malfunctioned during the climb.