B
Blinky
Guest
I think I've admitted this before but... I rescue cats in trees. I realize it's a personality disorder and all but I don't take anything for it. Compared to day rate work it pays damn good, it's gratifying to hand someone their cat that they've been stressing out over and mainly, most cat rescue customers are women. So that's my reasoning in the debate over whether cats even need to be gotten out of trees. I get between one and three of these a month these days, and they all go pretty easy, but every once in a while they get interesting...
So there was this average sized cat, waay the hell up in the fine tips of the top this marginal 60' sweetgum. This is the only picture I took.
He was upside down just before the picture was taken. He wasn't upside down when I got there though, he did that as I was trying reach him on a higher branch... it wasn't the first time he was hanging there 50' up, ass over tea kettle.
There were some big pines kinda close by that I could've put a line in to get a high TIP but it would've been a big production and this was a little, easy to climb tree. I figured I could stay near the stem at the top and he would just magically come in to me from those tips cuz I'm such a handsome and charming guy. I got up there and set a TIP around a couple 2-1/2" stems and almost even with this cat... which I was already disliking for some reason. He was not charmed, in fact, he didn't like me either and he wasn't coming in, he was going out further. I said some bad words, got my bag ready and tried to stretch out to him but the wood was just too thin. I would get to a point where I had to fully weight the limb he was on and when I did, it would bend way down and he would just go further out. Until he went too far where he would flip upside down and say bad words in cat language I guess. Then I would back up and then he would get his ass back upright, kinda. It was weird though, he was very un-cat like, straddling the limbs like in the picture, not at all agile. I guess being in a tree over a couple of sub-zero nights will do that to you.
We did that a few times until one of the twigs he was on snapped and he barely caught himself with his front paws. I actually hesitated a second as it went through my head that this would be a great photograph. This cat was obviously about to free fall 50', I could get 6 or so frames with a good DSLR. But then I realized I should be freaking out because this cat was gonna free fall 50', pretty much at the owner's feet. So I walked out on the limb enough to make it bend into the tips of the limb below, the one in the picture. Pretty good idea I thought... but it wasn't happening because the stupid cat wouldn't let go of the limb he was barely hanging on to. Then it broke. I was good and everything, my part didn't move all that much but the noise was enough to make him move. Of course when he did, it was into more tips and he flipped upside down again. The owner had to have been wigging at this point because I counted seven of his nine lives used up in about 10 minutes.
I knew once I got down on the lower limb I'd have a better rope angle so I could ease out, scruff his ass and bag him. He seemed to to think I was trying to kill him or something though and went out further again... until he flipped again. He was way the hell out there now and my rope angle wasn't that good, but I did stop and shoot that picture. He'd been upside down and flopped over so many times at this point I figured I could spare a shot with the phone.
After that I just stretched way out and nabbed him. I was pissed, he was pissed and right away I realized I had a pointy, agitated, biting critter in my left hand, my rope in my right hand and some dodgy maneuvering to do before I could put a bag on him. And he got more pissed every time I moved until there was a brief moment when I'm pretty certain I was more afraid than he was. I know landscaper whose hand was grossly dis-figured from infection from a severe cat bite... and this little guy definitely intended me harm.
For a few seconds I entertained the idea of throwing him out of the tree and telling the customer it was on the house but around here that would probably make the papers. Save a cat, no story, throw a cat out of a 50' tree, story. Instead I just put him down on the tree side of the limb and he immediately climbed a dead stub on the other side. Perfect, I had him cold at that point, he was easy to bag but he kicked around inside for a while, a lot more than usual. That's it, everything else went normal, end of story.
So there was this average sized cat, waay the hell up in the fine tips of the top this marginal 60' sweetgum. This is the only picture I took.
He was upside down just before the picture was taken. He wasn't upside down when I got there though, he did that as I was trying reach him on a higher branch... it wasn't the first time he was hanging there 50' up, ass over tea kettle.
There were some big pines kinda close by that I could've put a line in to get a high TIP but it would've been a big production and this was a little, easy to climb tree. I figured I could stay near the stem at the top and he would just magically come in to me from those tips cuz I'm such a handsome and charming guy. I got up there and set a TIP around a couple 2-1/2" stems and almost even with this cat... which I was already disliking for some reason. He was not charmed, in fact, he didn't like me either and he wasn't coming in, he was going out further. I said some bad words, got my bag ready and tried to stretch out to him but the wood was just too thin. I would get to a point where I had to fully weight the limb he was on and when I did, it would bend way down and he would just go further out. Until he went too far where he would flip upside down and say bad words in cat language I guess. Then I would back up and then he would get his ass back upright, kinda. It was weird though, he was very un-cat like, straddling the limbs like in the picture, not at all agile. I guess being in a tree over a couple of sub-zero nights will do that to you.
We did that a few times until one of the twigs he was on snapped and he barely caught himself with his front paws. I actually hesitated a second as it went through my head that this would be a great photograph. This cat was obviously about to free fall 50', I could get 6 or so frames with a good DSLR. But then I realized I should be freaking out because this cat was gonna free fall 50', pretty much at the owner's feet. So I walked out on the limb enough to make it bend into the tips of the limb below, the one in the picture. Pretty good idea I thought... but it wasn't happening because the stupid cat wouldn't let go of the limb he was barely hanging on to. Then it broke. I was good and everything, my part didn't move all that much but the noise was enough to make him move. Of course when he did, it was into more tips and he flipped upside down again. The owner had to have been wigging at this point because I counted seven of his nine lives used up in about 10 minutes.
I knew once I got down on the lower limb I'd have a better rope angle so I could ease out, scruff his ass and bag him. He seemed to to think I was trying to kill him or something though and went out further again... until he flipped again. He was way the hell out there now and my rope angle wasn't that good, but I did stop and shoot that picture. He'd been upside down and flopped over so many times at this point I figured I could spare a shot with the phone.
After that I just stretched way out and nabbed him. I was pissed, he was pissed and right away I realized I had a pointy, agitated, biting critter in my left hand, my rope in my right hand and some dodgy maneuvering to do before I could put a bag on him. And he got more pissed every time I moved until there was a brief moment when I'm pretty certain I was more afraid than he was. I know landscaper whose hand was grossly dis-figured from infection from a severe cat bite... and this little guy definitely intended me harm.
For a few seconds I entertained the idea of throwing him out of the tree and telling the customer it was on the house but around here that would probably make the papers. Save a cat, no story, throw a cat out of a 50' tree, story. Instead I just put him down on the tree side of the limb and he immediately climbed a dead stub on the other side. Perfect, I had him cold at that point, he was easy to bag but he kicked around inside for a while, a lot more than usual. That's it, everything else went normal, end of story.
