Ever had your cat get stuck in a tree? Mine did! So, I have a cat. Well, a stray cat that lives outside, my family feeds it, and we took it to the vet for shots. It doesn't know how to use the litterbox, isn't good with my dogs, and it bit my mom! From the story she told, she wasn't doing anything, she had her hand out, he didn't sniff it, but he chomped her finger. So..., he's not living in our house any time soon!
What's funny is, he likes me! He brushes up against me, lets me pet him, and jumps up onto me. He hisses at my parents though, even though they bring him food most of the time. Maybe I have an advantage because I am small and less threatening.
So, this happened before Christmas. Specifically the day before Christmas Eve. I went out to feed him, and I couldn't find him anywhere, I called to him, by name and I also meowed to him. I heard him, and followed the sound, I heard his cries above me, in a tree. This tree is the tree my parents always told me not to climb since it's very unstable.
Immediately, I freaked out and ran into my house to tell my dad, who simply shrugged. I was upset because my cat was very freaked out, wouldn't come down when coaxed with food, and it was very cold and getting dark. My mom came home, and I ran up to the car and immediately told her about what happened, she said she would get on some old clothes and would get the ladder. The stepladder wouldn't reach the cat, it was several feet short, and it was at an angle that couldn't reach the cat. We moved the ladder and tried again to coax him down since we couldn't reach him, (he would probably claw our faces off or bite us anyway), he took two steps down, looked around, and took two steps back. My dad eventually came outside and told us to come in and eat dinner. He said is was dangerous to be outside in the dark, on a ladder, trying to rescue an unpredictable cat in a weak tree. And he was right! It was a bad situation, and it was getting colder, my hands were starting to numb, but I couldn't help but just think about him all night. I thought he would freeze to death, or fall out of the tree. He was high up and it would be a bad fall.
The next morning, my mother told me that the cat was even higher up in the tree. I went out to see for myself, and sure enough, he was higher up, in fact, he was twice as high than he was the other day. What a moron! It was now light! We could've helped him, (at least had a much easier time) now it was going to be nearly impossible!
We waited, and he still wasn't coming down! So, my parents got out the big ladder, the extension ladder which is 25 feet tall. My parents leaned it against the tree, and extended it up, my mom went up and my dad stood at the bottom of the ladder, my mom couldn't get him to descend, my dad couldn't either when he went up the ladder. My parents let me climb the ladder, he came down a little farther and went for the food I used to coax him down the branch, but we still didn't know how to get him down.
We also tried hoisting up a basket for him to get into, he didn't go for it, instead, he was SCARED of it and went up higher! The branch he was on started to shake, we thought it would break and he would fall down. Then we tried herding him down the tree using a 12-foot cobweb duster to poke him with. He actually liked it and got a nice face rub. My dad went up the ladder again, tried for several minutes to reach him. Finally, my dad grabbed the cat's tail, the cat wasn't having it and was not letting go of the tree, he hissed furiously and spat and growled all at the same time. I thought he was going to attack my dad and that perhaps the ladder would fall. We told my dad to let go, and then we gave up, the cat went up even further. That night, we spent Christmas Eve dining at a restaurant. I couldn't stop thinking about the cat. Now he'd been up in the tree for more than 48 hours, my mom was worried, but told me that she didn't think the story of the cat and us would end soon. The next morning, Christmas, I went down and asked for an update. My mom told me that she found him that morning miraculously out of the tree and VERY hungry. I was so happy. We joked about it being a Christmas miracle. I made the cat a bed out of an old sweater that day and put in in his cat crate where he sleeps! I'm glad he's back, and he's safe! :) That was the best gift!
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