Thursday night we received a phone call from a frantic child telling me her kitty was high up in a tree. Her name was Amanda (the kitty) and she had been up in this pine tree for four days. She was only four months old. Chrissy, her owner was in tears and told me her and her parents had called everybody and no one would help them.

I jumped in the truck along with a huge bag of bird seed and a bag of cracked corn. When I got there- I spread the contents of both bags right under the tree and left a large extension ladder propped against the tree. Then I made a huge circle of wet food on a board just outside of the bird seed. I said a prayer and told the family that I hoped what I did would matter.

I got an elated call this morning that the kitty had come down from her perch. I was so happy to hear that- the mom asked me why I thought this method would work in the first place. She was highly skeptical (not to mention a bit drunk) when I showed up in the first place and outlined my plan. I told her that this had worked in the past, and I believed that it worked because a cat’s prey drive is pretty strong and even overpowers fear. Seeing all the birds gathered down below, Amanda forgot where she was for a minute or two and made her way down to hunt. The extension ladder made it a bit easier for her once she came down to its level.

One of the problems with adopting out kittens before they are fully ready- most people are so tire of them by 5 or 6 weeks they just want them gone, is that the mom doesn’t get a chance to train her kittens to hunt. Part of that training consists of going up and down a tree. Going up is easy- just scamper headfirst to the branches. But going down, they should be going down butt first- but most will go down head-first that just adds to the fear of being up so high. It’s becoming a lost art in the cat world- going head-first they freeze like a deer in the headlights. Going butt first, they don’t see where they are going- it is all instinctive.

If anyone finds themselves in a similar situation with a cat in a tree, just remember you have to buy the biggest bag of bird seed you can find. A small bag is not going to work- you have to empty the entire contents of the bag on the ground under the tree(s) and the cracked corn also attracted the blue jays and larger birds to add to the hunting grounds. Another thing you want to be sure to do- is to take the cat immediately to the vet if it has been up there more than 3 days. You are looking at dehydration issues or even feline hepatic lipidosis in extreme cases.

They gave me $20.00 for my trouble and I was glad to see it because donations have been almost nonexistent recently. I did want to give my vey $100.00 but now, at least there is $20.00 to give him.