A Cry for Help

I came home from the gym the other day to frantic "meows" coming from the back yard and a note from our neighbor taped to the front door...

"Your cat has been stuck in your tree all evening, we tried to get it down but it just climbed higher... call us if you need anything!"

Sure enough our brilliant kitty had made her way clear up a tree in our yard- 15 feet or so above our roof. She was pretty antsy and kept walking back and forth along these tiny branches till they bowed beneath her weight. There was no way we could reach her without the serious risk of falling 20 or 30 feet.

Todd and I weren't sure what to do- call the fire department? Leave her there all night? Risk our lives climbing up to rescue her? When all of a sudden, Todd had a brilliant idea.

We harnessed up, and Todd layered on slings, quick draws, climbing shoes, and a backpack, and basically rock climbed up the tree. I was pretty sure we'd get the cat down alive until I looked up at her-- just in time to see a branch snap under the cat's weight. She fell, but caught a branch with one paw and dangled there, crying. It was the kind of thing I thought only happened in movies. Because I was right below her, I prepared to catch her or at least break her fall, but she managed to climb back into the tree.

By the time Todd made it to her level she was so frantic that she practically dove into his chest. He stuffed her head-first into his bag, zipped it shut, and climbed/repelled off the tree.

Boy was that cat happy to be on the ground again! Hopefully she learned a thing or two, because next time she gets stuck up another tree she's on her own. ;)