Smokie the...cat...another rescue

[pantheraba]

I got a call early Monday morning...cat had been in 45' tree, too small for human to climb since 10:30 AM on Sunday. We had a LOT of cold rain Sunday night...cat was still in tree 22 hrs later. They had thrown footballs at it, shot it with a BB gun while folks on ground held a sheet in cae cat bailed...cat wouldn't budge.

The wife called me Monday AM..she had found me on Dan Kraus' site. She wanted the cat down pronto...I quoted her a price, she said let her husband know, she just wanted the cat DOWN. Hubby called me before I could call him...he was 45 feet up in a deer stand about 15 feet from cat laterally...he had thrown a steel bar with ski rope on it into cat's tree, was pulling tree over to him, Smokie not real happy and could only get tree to about 4 feet from him. He wasn't real comfortable reaching out to get cat ( ) and called me on the cell from his deer stand. I said I would put out the fires at work and head his way.

Took about 30 min. to load and leave, 30 to drive there, Smokie still perched up high. I immediately set up a large tarp under the tree...another cat I started to get last year bailed out from about 20 feet and the tarp was its net. I am REAL glad I put the tarp up this time.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Lucky puss.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Shot BBs at it! No wonder it didn't want to rejoin them.

 

[pantheraba]

I climbed about 20 feet past Smokie and traversed over to his tree...used the owner's ski line to pull self over. I took up a plastic garbage can and can of cat food with me...I tie the top on and have a shroud line cord to secure once cat is inside. I also have a lowering line preset on the can.

I eased my way up to cat and introduced him to my hand...then opened the cat food...pop top didn't work, had to use my pocket knife to open the stupid can. But, Smokie was plenty hungry and wanted that food. He eased over towards me and I coaxed him into the g-can...secured the top. My last view was SMokie curled up in the bottom of the can. At that point I felt I could finally relax...I had the can secured with a lowering line thru a pulley and ready to lower...I thought. I remember when I tied the lowering line off at the pulley having a niggle of concern about the clove hitch I put on the line holding properly...I have used it plenty but it was a slipped hitch. I should have put a half hitch in the quick release bight. In all the moving and jostling the slipped bight must have gotten loosened and slipped on out.

Long story short, the garbage can and Smokie slipped off the limb I had them on, reached the and of the slack I had in the lowering line, about 10 feet maybe, and the can came to a quick halt. I thought, "whew that was close" and then I heard the zzzzzzzzzz as the clove let loose.

I was directly over the g-can and saw it barrelling straight down into the tarp...God am I glad that tarp was there...it was about 4 feet above the ground and had some give. The g-can hit perfectly upright, slowly fell over, the owner finally got the top off and SMokie exploded out. He moonwalked over the tarp, he really didn't like the loosey-goosey-ness of the tarp.

It was a great rescue that almost went real bad.

Lessons learned...have a back up ready....pay attention to those niggling thoughts that zip thru the mind when doing something different...have a better method of immediately securing the victim once the rescue if effected.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Nice story, glad Smokey is alive on the ground. Well documented!

 

[pantheraba]

The light was awful for pictures...hard to make out a lot of it...but, that's the way it is.

I called the owners later in the day and Smokie, normally an outside cat was inside, had just finished a nice meal and was curled up beside the fire!!

The owner was appreciative enough to give me a nice tip...but I can still see the video in my mind of that cat containing can getting smaller as it headed towards that tarp...bad feeling...sometimes we get lucky.

That's all, folks.

 

[SkwerI]

Yup, I used a clove hitch exactly once in my career and it failed on me as well. I'll never use it again, as it's worthless without the backup knot and I see no reason whatsoever to tie a non-holding knot before I tie another knot that actually holds.

Glad the cat is ok. Next time use a bowline or something.

 

[woodworkingboy]

You might have been sued, PITA demonstrating at your place, all kinds of bad things, not least of which, your guilty conscience bothering you for the rest of your existence. Seems like you lucked out.

 

[pantheraba]

Glad the cat is ok. Next time use a bowline or something.

You got that right, SK...I'm glad this was a LIVE and learn lesson...everybody came thru good. SMokie and I both used up some of our luck that day.

 

[pantheraba]

You might have been sued, PITA demonstrating at your place, all kinds of band things, not least of which, your guilty conscience bothering you for the rest of your existence. Seems like you lucked out.

Yep, as I drove over I was wishing I had a waiver...I will have one next time...though I have heard they aren't really worth much. But, I'll have one anyway.

 

[Blinky]

Good story. Ya gotta give the hubby credit for the tree stand idea. I've never been bored on a cat rescue.

I just heard about a theory that some cat's won't come down because of a brain disorder similar to autism. It's not well understood but apparently there are cats that simply can't backup. They can't come down because they would have to back down for there claws to work.
Just a theory though.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cats can be pretty frigging stopid.

 

[Al Smith]

Cats can be pretty frigging stopid.

That's an under statement .

 

[vharrison]

Great story, thanks for sharing it!

 

[pantheraba]

Glad to...hoping somebody else learns from it, too.

 

[Cobleskill]

In cats defense, it is always harder climbing down than it is up.

 

[Bounce]

Way to go! Cat rescues are one of those rare times when climbers get to look like heroes.

I'm a victim of a failed clove hitch myself - 12 screws and 1 titanium plate in my left ankle. I don't know why people even call it a knot.

 

[pantheraba]

Whoa, Bounce...hate to hear that. I have re-evaluated my use of the knot (hitch to be precise), for sure.

 

[Bounce]

That's pretty much what I was thinking while laying on a hospital bed for 2 weeks. Fecking clove hitch....

 

[Burnham]

I've mentioned this once or twice before...the best cat handling equipment I have come up with is a cheap duffel bag with a glove sewn into the inside of it. Open up a seam in the bottom of the bag and sew it around the cuff of your dominant hand glove, with the glove inside the bag. To capture the cat, put your hand in the glove and turn the bag inside out over your arm. Grab the cat with your gloved hand, turn the bag rightside out over cat and gloved hand...cinch the top and let go of the cat and pull your hand out. Bagged cat!

 

[sotc]

ive been meaning to do that for a year now

 

[pantheraba]

I think it was Dan Kraus told me that, too...he has a welding glove sewn into his. I may give that a try...probably easier than being a cat-garbage man.

 

[darkstar]

How do you attract all these cat rescue jobs ?

 

[Burnham]

Canned tuna aftershave.

 

[Al Smith]

.

I'm a victim of a failed clove hitch myself - 12 screws and 1 titanium plate in my left ankle. I don't know why people even call it a knot.

I don't claim to be a tree rigger ,just an old timey salt water sailor .You should always back a clove up with some half hitchs . You're better off to tie a bowline in it .

Actually you could most likely lower the cat with it but that might alarm the feline fanciers .