"PinkLady" Pretty in Pink

(mid June 2017)

Executive Summary

"PinkLady" (my name for an unknown kitty) was stuck at 35 feet for two days in Olive Branch MS before her rescue. She made the rescue easy by being cooperative. She had a pretty pink collar but no ID and no chip. Sue was going to search for the owner. UPDATE: Sue was unable to find the owner, but did find a furever home the kitty, now named "Keylala".


Details

After stumbling through my morning run, I noticed a voice mail on the Kat Fone. It was from Sue, an unknown kitty had been stuck for two days near their house. Could I help? I called back and arranged to be there late that afternoon.

When I arrived, Sue met me and introduced me to her husband, Chris. Through conversation, I learned that her son, Jason, had graduated in Computer Engineering in 2012, did I remember him? It took me a minute but then I remembered -- I was the faculty advisor for the SECON robotics team that Jason was a member of. And to top things off, Jason had married Stephanie (who I also knew), who had graduated in Computer Science, my wife's department. Jason and Stephanie were the ones who told Sue to contact me. Both were now working for Intel in Austin TX. This was going to be a first -- a kitty rescue for the parents of one of my former students!

Sue and Chris led me to the tree where the kitty was hanging out. She was in a large oak, on a limb at about 35 feet and close to the trunk. She was vocal, and looked friendly. I will call her "PinkLady" as she was wearing a pretty pink collar. I established a climbing line at 45 feet and started up. When I reached her, I tried to make friends by offering some wet cat food. She was not interested and slowly backed away, going further out on the limb. I did not mind as the limb was not long, and this prevented her from going higher in the tree. I climbed a bit more, and then stood on her limb. I pulled out some dry kitty treats, and this time, PinkLady showed some interest in them. She came closer to sniff the treats and allowed me to stroke her. It was then easy to nab her by the scruff and put her in the Kat bag. Back on the ground, I handed the kitty off to Sue. After packing up, Sue let me to their outdoor screen porch where PinkLady was in a cage, enjoying some food and water. Sue helped me scan her for a chip, but no luck. The collar was no help either, no ID at all. Sue was going to search for an owner; I hope that she is successful.