"Small" And "Rodney" 

Executive Summary

Cat-stuck-tree-rescue can be weird. Nothing can happen for a couple of weeks, and then boom - a tsunami of activity! I have given up trying correlate it to phases of the moon, sunspots, whatever - it is just random.  It started with Jesse from Hartselle AL calling me about "Freya" - she was stuck again (rescued in Feb 2022), same tree, chased up by some dogs.  I drove over the next day, but when I was five minutes away Jesse called and said Freya had just climbed down on her own! I never complain when a kitty self-rescues so I turned around and went home. I decided not to unpack the truck since it was only about 1:00 pm. Sure enough, about 30 minutes later Mary called me about "Small" - a rescue kitty who had been stuck for 4 days up a neighbor's tree. I  had to wait until 6:00 pm when the neighbors (Jarrod and Makayla) got home from work, then drove over - it was only 3 minutes from my house!  "Small" was 50 feet up a hardwood that had very few limbs. I managed to set a rope about 10 feet above him. During the rope setup, Small yowled loudly and was terrified of the entire rope-setting process and actually climbed down about 15 feet. I started climbing and when I got even with Small, he decided that it was time to exit the tree - he jumped to the top of a nearby small tree, then jumped to the ground and headed for the house. Mary went after him, and after a lot of sweet talking calmed him and brought him inside.  Mark and Mary, many thanks for your generous donation!  I will apply it to some Vet expenses for the kitty that  I rescued a couple of weeks previously.

The next day, my friend and fellow cat rescuer Max got tagged in a stuck-kitty Facebook post in Athens AL. Max had to get on a plane for a trip, so he forwarded my information.  Charlie contacted me later that day - one her rescue kitties  ("Rodney") had been stuck up a pine tree for two nights and needed help. When I arrived, Charlie led me to the pine tree but we could not spot Rodney - we finally decided that he was probably  hiding in a squirrel nest at 50 ft. I put a rope at 70 ft and started up. When I neared the squirrel nest, Rodney popped his head up and meowed for help.  Rodney was a sweetheart and made the grab-N-bag easy.  Back on the ground, Rodney was taken into the house for food and water.  Mary fosters kitties for the local animal shelter, and Rodney is from a litter fostered one year previously where all of his litter mates were adopted, but not him.  SOOOOO - Rodney the sweetie is available for adoption if you live around the Huntsville/Athens area!