GREAT NEWS!
Kitty has been found!!!
We've all been a bit of a mess since kitty went missing. Lots of tears and sadness... especially once it was reported that coyotes have been right in our neighborhood and people had videos of them attacking / eating cats.
GF didn't give up hope. She stayed diligent on Nextdoor, calling shelters, etc. etc. etc.
Yesterday a woman contacted my GF on Nextdoor saying that an elderly woman in the neighborhood has had a very vocal cat stuck up in her tree for the last day or so. The woman wasn't able to receive or send pictures to try and verify what the cat looked like.
This morning I got the elderly woman's address, and discovered it's a house that has a backyard that is very close to my backyard. So, I walked around to the house and looked in the trees and didn't see anything. I was about to head back home, but decided to look some more.
Well, way WAY up in one of the trees I see our kitty! She was just staring at me.
I said, "Kitty, what are you doing up there!?!?!"
That's all she needed to hear, and then started MEOWING like CRAZY!... non-stop!
I quickly sent that video to my GF and daughters... they were beside themselves with happiness.
... but now what to do? She was at least 25 - 30 feet up in the tree. My GF started calling around. She discovered the fire / police don't bother with that kind of thing.
I went back home, got my buddy to help me load up my "Little Giant" ladder, and we headed back. The old lady was there and very supportive.
The ladder was clearly not tall enough. Here's the ladder, tree, and arrows pointing at the cat behind a squirrel nest:
View attachment 2918738
When I realized the ladder was too short my GF found an arborist that will come out and get a cat out of a tree for $200. I told her to have him come out.
I decided to go ahead and go up the ladder while my buddy stabilized the bottom. I got to the top and tied the ladder to the tree for more safety.
I realized if I stood on the top wrung I was able to just barely reach the very beginning of the branch.
I wrapped my left arm around the tree trunk, and motioned for kitty to come to me. She was pretty hesitant and just walked around a bit. While up there I took a pic. Her hair was all over up and down all the branches. A TON of hair... as though she might have been up there for 8 days since Thanksgiving!
I got this pic while up there (you can see a lot of the hair in the bark):
View attachment 2918748
After about 10 minutes she finally got close to my hand. I gave her a tiny pet, slowly to the back of her neck... then GRABBED HER very tightly by the scruff of her neck. I know it's not an ideal thing to do, but I didn't want either of us to die.
She wasn't too happy, but I had a solid hold on her. I slowly went down the ladder and on the ground, then put her in her cat carrier.
We got her home, let her out, gave her space, and access to food and water. Once she settled down we checked her out and other than seeming a little skinnier, she's as fine as we can tell.
After a while she clearly wanted to go back outside, but we're keeping her inside while we monitor her for a while. We're also a bit possessive & a little paranoid about her being outside.
My best guess is that something (like the coyotes) scared her up the tree, or she chased a squirrel up the tree towards its nest... and either way couldn't get down.
I don't know what most other cats do when they get themselves into these situations. She was clearly up there a LONG time and was completely unable to get down on her own... at least not safely.
Here she is recouping from a very traumatic experience:
View attachment 2918757
