My cat is up a tree

[MerryRaven]

Please someone, reassure me that it will be all right.

I came home today from a 2 day visit to see my grand-daughter and my furbaby is up a tree.  80 feet up a cedar tree.

There is no way I can get to him. 

He is not an outside cat and I don't know how he got out except, maybe he slipped out Saturday while we were packing the car.  He never even tries to go outside, darn it!

I don't know how long he has been up there crying.  It sounds as if he is yelling "Help!  Help!" 

I have put food out on the roof (the tree kind of over hangs it) and I hope he will come down.  I know that is about all I can do, because no one will come and rescue him.

But it is going to rain and it is getting dark and how can I sleep tonight with my furbaby crying.

Please someone who has experience with this tell me he will be okay.
 
And do not tell me that you never see cat skeletons in trees.  That is NOT reassuring.

[Venus193]

I am praying to Bastet for you and your furbaby right now. 

[kathrynne]

DH thinks that since climbing is mostly instinctive for cats, an indoor cat is likely as good a climber as an indoor/outdoor or strictly outdoor cat, and that he'll be able to climb down when he's desperate or hungry enough to do so. I don't know if that makes you feel any better.

I will say I've seen plenty of news stories about kitties treed for a long time who ultimately came out of it fine, but that probably doesn't help much either, because you don't want to think about this lasting another minute.

You have my sympathies, though, since I'd be a wreck too, until I could look kitty in the eye and ask him what the heck he was thinking. I'd probably be out on the roof all night calling the recalcitrant critter, at least until someone came to take me away.

I don't suppose kitty is a catnip addict who would recognize and come running for the shaking of a familiar package? That's how I always caught the one kitty who occasionally escaped on me, and I knew I was in deep trouble when Hartz changed from the traditional hot pink catnip box.

Good luck and keep us posted, please.

[Leprchn]

Worry as only a FurMom can - but take comfort in that he will come down on his own one way or another.  If, after 24 hours, he hasn't then call the NON-emergency SPCA # for advice (or your local fire dept. as they have the long ladders!)

On a much, much smaller scale, my cat climbed the bedroom curtains and was perched on the rail, crying his heart out for help getting down.  I opened one eye and said, "you got yourself up, you can get yourself down."  It was a cathedral ceiling, about 10 feet up.  By the time I woke up for real, he was down.

For your cat, hunger, thirst, and other critters-in-the-night are a fantastic incentive to motivate oneself to "branch out" as it were!

ETA:  One thing to keep in mind, when he does decide to venture downward, you may hear him flopping from branch to branch, looking like a "Plinko" chip coming down.  Do Not Freak Out!  Their bodies are quite able to take it.

[jais]

My neighbors cat climbed up a tree in the yard of or apartment building.  3 stories tall, and she was above roof-level.  After about 4 hours of various people trying to get her down, climbing ladders, trying to bribe her, etc....  Her owner went in the apartment to get bug repellant (summer in MN) gone for less than 5 minutes,  and the EVIL LITTLE KITTY crawled down on her own! I love her to death, but that was so WRONG!

[IndianInlaw]

Merry Raven, have you ever seen a cat skeleton in a tree?  That must mean they all come down at some point.

Our cat wedged himself between the basement window and the burglar bars.  My son wanted to call the fire dept (as if they would come!).   I merely opened a can of gourmet cat food we happened to have and he was out of there like a shot.  Now we call it "firefighter in a can".

[Bijou]

Please someone, reassure me that it will be all right.

I came home today from a 2 day visit to see my grand-daughter and my furbaby is up a tree.  80 feet up a cedar tree.

There is no way I can get to him. 

He is not an outside cat and I don't know how he got out except, maybe he slipped out Saturday while we were packing the car.  He never even tries to go outside, darn it!

I don't know how long he has been up there crying.  It sounds as if he is yelling "Help!  Help!" 

I have put food out on the roof (the tree kind of over hangs it) and I hope he will come down.  I know that is about all I can do, because no one will come and rescue him.

But it is going to rain and it is getting dark and how can I sleep tonight with my furbaby crying.

Please someone who has experience with this tell me he will be okay.
 
And do not tell me that you never see cat skeletons in trees.  That is NOT reassuring.

I recall reading a book once, by an animal psychic, who said that animals think in pictures and that you can communicate with your animal by thinking in pictures.  I don't know how true it is, but heck, you have nothing to lose, so why not picture him safely making its way down the tree. 
Let us know when kitty comes down.  I'd like to know he is safe.    I would be worried, too.

[MerryRaven]

The cat skeleton in a tree is NOT comforting.

I put his favorite canned food on the roof.  Which means he is only about 65 feet from it.

No movement.  In fact he went higher I think.

I am going to call the humane society if he is not down tomorrow.

Our fire departments don't have ladders that high.  If he is still there in a day or two I may call my neighbor that works in constrution and see if he can get a "cherry picker" to get him.

[Venus193]

Your neighbor sounds like the right solution.  I'm praying for you and your furbaby.

[IndianInlaw]

Oh I'm so sorry!  I didn't see the cat skeleton reference in your original post!  Put me down on your list of unobservant people.

Is kitty down yet?

By the way, fire departments don't rescue cats.

[Squeaks]

IF need be call the local news stations

this happened not to long ago here.  (a power line was involved and the energy company was not helpful)  the news was only to happy to go out there and film live even found one person who said they would happilly get the cat if anyone brought a non metal ladder.

needless to say the media was out there life for some time hopeing to film the rescue. - this type of thing is great on a slow news day

here is one the links even
http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=F8F68AD154276B37332324E459D229EC?contentId=1618441&version=5&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1


Once the media was out there the energy company was only too happy to rescue the cat.





If it was me id see to it that *I* got stuck with the cat - funny thing is people are a higher priority than cats.





As hard as this is,  the best may be to leave the food out, maybe a soft matress, and leave the cat be.  sometimes a little time and quiet to let the cat do its own thing is best.  too much commotion is not going to help a scared cat.

[IndianInlaw]

Gosh, when I lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the electric company was more than happy to retrieve balls, etc in power substations, because they didn't want people to go in themselves and get fried.

[Squeaks]

Gosh, when I lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the electric company was more than happy to retrieve balls, etc in power substations, because they didn't want people to go in themselves and get fried.

You would think that wouldn't you?

In the case I mentioned they did not want to risk one of their people for a cat. Seems to me that they should be *trained* to know how to not get fried, but ohh well.

[IndianInlaw]

Well, the electric company was already paying off a lawsuit filed by the parents of a  pre teen child who climbed  barb wire topped fences to get into a substation and got severely burned."

But that is an entirely different story.

[Buffy2424]

Oh, God, MerryRaven.  Definitely contact your neighbor, and/or start looking for other people who have the capabilities.  Maybe you could borrow or rent something?  I've thought about this often but still don't know exactly what I'd do.