Never Again

Well, I met my objective: the cat is no longer in the tree and we didn't have to pay anybody to do it! Yesterday morning, during Zachary's nap, I went to see if I could coax her down. I had borrowed a neighbor's ladder, but when I got there, I realized that the ladder was nowhere near tall enough to do any good. I also met the guy whose property the tree is actually on. He had to go to work, so he didn't stick around for very long.

I tried using the hose to spray the cat, thinking it might force her down, but the water didn't reach. While I was out there, a neighbor came out to play with his dog. I went over to talk to him and ask if he had a tall ladder. After a little while he admitted that he did. He brought it out and set it up. It was a really tall, extension ladder. Perfect! I climbed up and continued calling to the cat. She didn't move. I climbed back down. After some time of calling to her from the ground, she got up the courage to move closer to the trunk of the tree. Then she actually got to the branch below the one she'd been on. I was really encouraged! I climbed back up the ladder and kept calling to her. She was now sitting in a fork of the tree quite close, but I couldn't reach her. She showed no inclination to try to move down further. The guy was holding the ladder and suggested I come down and he try going up. Maybe he thought he could grab her, being taller? So he went up the ladder, and he didn't stop on the 4th or 5th rung from the top, like I did. He went all the way to the top, and Riselle was almost within his reach! Unfortunately, she was so scared, she lost bladder control, and then retreated back up the branch. He came down off the ladder and I went up again. This time, I went all the way to the top too. But she had retreated too far, and then she jumped back to the branch she had been on. Silly cat.

So with the cat exactly where she had been when she started, we gave up for the time being. Zachary's nap wasn't going to last much longer, so I had to go in.

After lunch, Zachary went down for his afternoon nap, and I again headed to the tree. I brought a can of food with me, since she was panting and was hungry and thirsty. I thought it might help lure her down. Nope. It didn't do any good. She hardly even looked at me. Her eyes were half closed and she was hardly meowing anymore. I knocked on the guy's door, to see if he could set the ladder back up, but he didn't come to the door. So I just stood in the yard under the tree, holding the open food can, calling to the cat.

After a little while, the guy came out to play with his dog (I wonder if he thought I had gone away again. I didn't hear a car drive up and I don't think he could see me from his house). I asked if he could set up his ladder again, since I had food to try to coax her with. I was afraid for a moment that he wasn't going to, but then he went into his house to get it.

I went up the ladder and held up the food can, calling to her, but she wouldn't look at me. She just sat there, panting. I was rather frustrated! For one thing, why did she go up the tree? Didn't she learn her lesson last time? Secondly, why was she so high? There were lots of branches, why did she think she needed to be on such a high one? And why wasn't she trying harder to get down? I didn't like spending all my Zachary-free time standing in someone else's yard, trying to coax my cat out of a tree!

From the ground, looking at the tree, I started to analyze how close the branches were to each other and how feasible it might be for me to get a little closer to the cat, maybe convince her to try to climb down again. I said something to the guy about, "I wonder if I can get closer to her." He responded, "I don't see how!" So I climbed up the ladder again, but instead of stopping on the top rung, I began to climb the tree. The ladder just reached the lowest branches, so getting into the tree wasn't very hard at all. I got to the branch she had climbed down to and positioned myself so I had one arm free. I began calling to the cat and reaching for her. She moved closer to me, yay!! I continued coaxing and she continued her slow progress until she could sniff my fingers and then I could pet her head. Soon she was close enough that I managed to pick up her.

So there I was, way up in the tree, holding on with one hand and holding a cat with the other. Let me make sure the picture is clear in your head. This is a very tall tree. I'm easily 50 feet in the air. The tree has several branches, but it's not very dense. If I fell, not much would break my fall. It's not a very large tree, however, and it was a windy day. Every time the wind blew, the tree swayed, significantly. When I thought about it, I completely understood why she didn't want to move! It was really scary! I found myself breathing hard and actually panting! There was a moment of panic when I didn't know how I got up there and I didn't know how I was going to get down. But I, unlike the cat, realized that since I had gotten up, I would be able to get down. The moment passed.

I started to think through my descent and realized that I could not do it with a cat in my arms. I needed both hands free to get down. I said something to that effect to the guy on the ground. His advice was, "Well you gotta. You gotta get down." I considered dropping the cat. I was afraid she would be hurt by the bushes, though, and abandoned that thought. I also realized that someone had come out of the one of the houses, so I had two onlookers. She was a little more helpful and suggested I put the cat on the branch that I was sitting on. After a little maneuvering, I got her to hang onto that branch and then I repositioned myself below, intending to pick her up and repeat the process. As I picked her up, she kinda grabbed onto me and climbed on my shoulders, but didn't seem to want to jump to any branch. "Hmm," I thought, "this could work."

With the cat sitting on my shoulders, leaving both hands free, I climbed back down to the ladder. A couple times the cat tried to sink her claws into the tree, but I managed to keep her on my shoulders. I got to the ladder and climbed down. When I was almost at the bottom she jumped off of me and headed straight for the dense bushes. I was not the least bit concerned. The guy was holding the ladder for me and didn't say much. I don't think he knew what to say. It's not every day you see a cat so well-behaved!

I'll tell you though, I never want to do that again!! Don't get me wrong, I used to love to climb trees! There's something exhilerating about getting up there all by yourself and being so high up. But I never want to climb down with a cat clinging to me. Not only was I concerned with getting down without falling, but I was constantly worried about her (a) jumping back up into the tree, (b) losing her balance and digging her claws in worse than she already was, or (c) causing me to lose my balance and both of us fall out of the tree. It was absolutely nerve-wracking. Climbing down a tree requires looking around to find the best place to put your foot, but with a cat, you don't have the same freedom of movement because you don't want her to jump or fall. A couple times, I was blindly reach with my foot, uncertain of where the branch was, and hoping my foot would find it!

So, the cat is out of the tree. She came right home and filled her belly. We haven't let her outside since. She obviously didn't learn her lesson, but we've learned ours. She can't be trusted! Time to dig out her harness and leash!