I will make this brief because of the post I just read about a REAL harrowing cat rescue (viewtopic.php?p=17615#p17615) that drainhook accomplished last year, makes mine seem anticlimatic.

First rescue: Princess was up about 30 feet in a viable TIP. She was up there for 3 days. Surprisingly, the fire department showed up 3 times to try to get her down. Very uncharacteristic of the fire dept. to show up for cat rescues around this area.
As I climbed up, Princess climbed out to the very end of the branch where I couldnt follow her. I tried to coax her closer for about 2 hours but she just kept moving out further. One of the off duty firemen showed up to see how it was going and lend a hand. The owners, a neighbor and the fireman held a tarp below Princess while I gently pushed her off the end of the limb where she fell perfectly into the tarp. The fireman quickly grabbed her so she wouldnt run off. He suffered minor scratches to the face and arms. Princess proceeded to find a warm quiet resting place behind the owners living room sofa.

The second rescue was a "cold night" rescue. This is the first night rescue/climb I have ever done and I have to say it was amazing. Molly was only 25 feet up a very thick and dense oak and had been up there for 2 nights. The weather was poor. 35 degrees and raining. I had expected Molly to climb higher as I climbed up to get her but she stayed in the same crotch the entire time. I am wondering if she stayed there because the bright lights shining in her eyes temporarily blinded her so she couldnt see where to climb safely. This was one of the most simple rescues I have ever done. I climbed up to my TIP, scratched her back and grabbed her by the nape of the neck like a mother cat would do. Placed her in the cat carrier and lowered her down.

I have to say that I am glad that the majority of my rescues are fairly straight forward.

Thanks to all for sharing your rescue stories.

BKS

Thanks, BKS. I like reading about cat rescues. I haven't had the pleasure of rescuing a cat yet, but one day the chance will come I'm sure. (I'm on Dan Kraus's directory). I bet it feels good beng the hero - especially when the fire dep't couldn't help at first.

Thanks Poplar,

Its funny you mentioned the "hero" thing. The owners of the cats say that sometimes too. I dont feel like a hero. My main motivation when I started to do this was to have an excuse to climb. Add a cat in a tree and you have a real challenge. I think thats why I enjoy doing it, the challenge.

The smiles on the owners faces are a great reward too.

Dont worry about getting a rescue call, they will come. I was on the directory for about a year before I got my first call. I only do about 2-3 per year. Where are you located?

Happy Climbing

BKS

I had yet another cat rescue and instead of starting a new thread, I will just use this thread to post all my cat rescues. Anyone else who does cat rescues, please feel free to post your rescues here too, if you'd like.

Ok, it started out to be a fairly straight forward rescue as they always do. Set my rope, tie in, climb up to first TIP. I tied my spare rope to the cat carrier and clipped the rope to my harness so the rope would be conveniently located to pull up my cat carrier.

I learned, first hand, the load dynamics of an SRT with a trunk tie off... My first TIP was only 25 feet or so. Half way up the tree, I was unusually tired. I stopped to rest. When I reached my TIP, I was exhausted.

I could not believe that after only one week of not climbing, I was so out of shape. Well, I looked down and I saw that my cat carrier was about 1 to 2 feet off the ground. The rope attached to it was wrapped just far enough around the base of the tree and had just enough friction to cause the carrier to come off the ground. But, the rope would slip just enough to keep it suspended at about 1 foot off the ground.

Carrier with miscellaneous gear- 20lbs.
TIP- my harness.

The psuedo trunk tie off doubled the load to about 40lbs. Bad technique but a great workout.

Anyway, Tiger the cat had now moved out to the end of the limb where I could not follow. I called to him for a bit but he would not come in. I got busy setting a higher TIP and was ignoring Tiger. Cats dont seem to like being ignored apparently. He started coming back my way to the main bole. He came almost close enough to grab but I was a little too high to reach him. I started to lower myself to grab him and he decided to try to climb down the tree, head first. He quickly learned that his claws were not going to cooperate going down head first. He was commited and finally jumped. He fell about 18 feet and landed on the grass and ran as fast as he could into the house and behind the couch.

The owner went to check on Tiger and he was fine. He had been in the tree for 2 nights and 3 days. I bit dehydrated and hungry and probably sore from the fall but no major injuries.

Another successfull rescue.

BKS

Ok, I finally figured out how the cat carrier load was doubled as you climbed, basically it was like an upside-down SRT anchor, cat carrier being the branch, your harness the ground anchor? So to speak.

Nice job on the rescue, you're rapidly becoming an expert!
-AJ

Okay, I thought he was meaning that the wrap around the base was the "trunk tie-in", something on his saddle was the "limb" that the rope was over, and the carrier was the "climber"!

This is why pictures are best, I suppose!

Brian----I'm a bit confused as to the setup. First I was seeing what Moss wrote, then I saw what Dietley was assuming, and suddenly I'm not sure of anything!

Could we have a drawing or a photo of the setup?

In my brain I am seeing a ground-level tie-off with a rope running through a carabiner on your harness and the carrier hanging on the free end of that rope. Then, as you are climbing (on an entirely different setup, independent of the carrier) you are lifting double the weight of the carrier, because you are on a tie-off, and because the Laws Of Physics say so. This is about the same as what Dietley was talking about and, at least to me, seems more correct.

Good rescue attempt by the way. Kitty rescues are good for our public image as well as giving us an excuse to climb!

I think Joe and Dietley have it right, I can't even figure out what I was talking about!
-AJ

Not to worry! Most of the time I don't know what I'm talking about either!

We will probably discover that we are all wrong and that Brian was doing something entirely different from whatever we are imagining. I wanna see a photo or a drawing!

Just got back to my computer. Sorry for the late reply.

Dietley has the correct explaination. The cat carrier would be the climber, the rope came up to a carrabiner attatched to my harness and then back down for a psuedo trunk tie off. The rope was not tied off to the trunk but had enough friction to hold the carrier off the ground. As I climbed the rope around the trunk would slip just enough to keep the carrier 1 to 2 feet off the ground.

I blame the poor explaination I gave on the adult beverage I was drinking at the time. Let this be a lesson to everyone, dont drink and post.

I got a call from a lady who's cat has been up a tree for 4 days. She lives close to where I work so I went out to take a look on my way home even though I didn't have my gear with me. The weather wasn't so great - in fact there was a thunderstorm raging and high winds blowing when I arrived at the house. It turned out the cat is about 70-80 feet up a spindly elm clinging to a diagonally leaning branch that is about 2 inches in diameter with no viable tie in points above it or in any adjacent trees. As the wind blew, the water-logged cat was tree surfing in 5-6 foot arcs back and forth. It was not a pretty sight. The highest crotch I would feel safe tying into is about 15 feet below the cat and that is a junction between two 4-inch diameter limbs.

I told the lady I didn't see any way that I could safely reach the cat and suggested she call a local arborist who is also on the Cat In A Tree Rescue page. She actually had contacted both of earlier in the year when the same cat went up another tree and he came to get it down. I think she would rather not pay the cat rescue fee he charges if she could avoid it.

Anyway, on the way home it occured to me that I could lash a fishing net on the end of my 22 foot long painter's pole and try to scoop the cat into the net from the crotch 15 feet below it. Have any of you ever tried this? Do you have any creative ideas in case the arborist decides not to take the job either? I did stop at Walmart and bought the biggest sturdiest fishing net they had, so I'll be prepared this time or next.

I tried a fishing net, but it didn't work. Fishing nets usually come to a point at the bottom, and you can't fold the hoop over to trap the cat. The net either needs to be squared off on the bottom or be very long. The one time I tried it, the kitten just climbed up and out. It dropped 50' onto a shed roof and took off. Now I have a different net arrangement.

There is a chance the cat might come to you for the last few feet. Get as high up as you can, then just hang out, talking gently to him and acting somewhat disinterested. I've had several come down to me, or "in" from being way out on a limb.

This one even tried using my rope to come down.

Thanks bstewart. I like the idea of "hanging out and acting uninterested". Maybe bringing my harmonica into the tree would help, too.

I also posted my request on the "big tree hunters" Facebook page. A few have posted recommendations there, too.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/18748661 ... up_comment

Hey Patrick - do you know if the cat ever got down? Just wondering.

-Leslie

Update: Chip, the arborist, got the cat down safely yesterday evening. I didn't get many details from the cat owner except for: "Chip found it challenging and I almost contacted you for back up, but he managed it."

Thanks everyone for all the ideas. I feel like I could try a rescue like this is in the future.