Kitty Diaries

We've had quite the adventure with our kitty over the last couple of days. I'll start from the beginning. On Halloween night I got a call from a neighbor a few doors down (whom we've never met) telling me that he had my kitty. I said, "Oh, she's just an outdoor cat. Just let her go and she'll find her way home." Well, she didn't come home that night, but that didn't worry me too much since it has happened before. The next day (yesterday), however, she still hadn't come home and by 3 'o clock, I started to get worried. Thank goodness for our new caller-id! We looked up our neighbor's phone number from the caller-id to ask if they had seen Nala. They said they saw her before they left for work. We asked permission to go over and call to her.

Daniel, Addi, and I walked on over and started calling for her. We could hear her meowing, but could not find her! Finally, I spotted her in a tree about 45 feet up. Unfortunately, this was no climbing tree. It was skinning and tall and its branches were tiny and frail looking. My first thought was to call the fire department, but supposedly they don't do, "my cat is stuck in a tree" calls. Daniel, being the resourceful guy that he is, quickly got on the internet to find out what to do. We thought about leaving her there and figuring she'd come down eventually, but we read online that doesn't happen. Instead they get tired and end up falling out of the tree. So Daniel rigged up a contraption with a laundry basket, but the plan was flawed and he ended up just getting the basket stuck in the tree. By this time it was dark, he couldn't see, and not only was the cat stuck, but the laundry basket as well.

We ended up having to leave the cat in the tree overnight. Daniel had to leave for work at 5:30am and we didn't know when we'd be able to get back over to try getting her down. Daniel also informed me today he had a very restless night trying to figure out another contraption to get the cat down from the tree and hating the fact she was stuck there all night balancing herself on a tiny branch, hungry, and tired. Fortunately, after Daniel got to work his attending physician (who happens to be a cat lover) caught wind of our cat situation and ordered Daniel to go home and NOT to come back until his cat was out of the tree. On his way home, Daniel stopped at Wal-Mart to get some supplies, got home, rigged up a new contraption involving fishing line, multiple ropes, and a cat carrier with tuna in it. It was really a genius idea...definitely inspired.

So, we finally get the cat carrier up in the tree right underneath the kitty, but she is too scared to move to get in it. We called to her and tried to coax her using encouraging words. It was frustrating to see the cat so close to safety, but not being able to show her. She was 45 feet away, and we'd done all we could do. After about 20 minutes of calling, "here kitty, kitty, kitty" she finally came down a branch, lost her footing, then jumped into the box!!!!

We got her down and I was crying and cuddling her and Daniel and I were just so relieved!!!! All of this from 2 people who are allergic to cats in the first place and aren't really "cat people"!!!!! Nala is now resting, eating, and drinking in the garage. I think I'll keep her in there for a few days!!!!!!

***These are not photos of the actual rescue, they are re-enactment photos. You can see the stuck laundry basket (which we did eventuall get down) and above it is the kitty carrier. Nala was a few branches above the top of the carrier.