Any advice: Cat in tree

Ann McRae

and not photographic advice either - my daughters cat (hates everyone else, tolerates me, loves my daughter) has been 40 feet up in a big pine tree since I got home from work Tuesday. If he could reason, he would see that he could safely jump from the tree to the roof of the garage. We have built a woood ramp for him to walk from the tree to the garage - all he needs to do is come down 3 or 4 branches to get to the ramp. We have lined the ramp with salmon - the magpies are stealing the salmon....
I have been told by many people that he will come down when he gets hungry enough, but I am getting worried and exasperated! And the fire department does not rescue cats!:scratch :rolleyes :dunno

Ideas?

ann

dragon300zx

Hmmm did you tell them you see them do it all the time on tv and in cartoons? Or did you ask them why your not special enough for there help? Ok enough with the taunting. I wish I had some usefull Ideas for you I know this can't be a good thing problem is I am so not a cat person (side note this could be a good photographic opprotunity). I would think that everyone is right though when the cat gets hungry and tired it will come down. Only thing I could think of would be using an extension ladder or cherry picker to get up there and pull him out by hand. Extension ladder would be the cheapest but sticking them in trees and climbing up them isnt the safest. Cherry pickers are great but expensive to rent. Now if you could flag down a electric or phone service vehicle that is equiped with one and you and your daughter where both crying your hearts out they would prolly feel obligated to help.

simon bennett

Hi Ann,

My advice would be to eat the salmon yourself and leave the cat to come down in its own time. A friend told me a story of how her cat used to get stuck up a tree all the time. To begin with she worried and called the fire brigade. They sent out some recruits for the job and rescued the cat (slow day at the station, I guess). A couple of days later the cat was stuck up the same tree. The warden told her not to worry about it as the cat would come down. She wasn't convinced until the guy asked her if she'd ever seen a dead cat up a tree. That was a turning point for her and she's been fine about it ever since. The cat still winds its way up a tree - but my friend no longer worries about it as it always comes down when it's hungry.

Hope this helps (even if just a bit).

Ann McRae

simon bennett wrote:

Hi Ann,

She wasn't convinced until the guy asked her if she'd ever seen a dead cat up a tree.
Hope this helps (even if just a bit).

Funny, but my friend the firefighter said just that to me! Did you ever get the email I sent you a while ago?

Thanks, Simon.
ann

bkriete

My folks called a tree surgeon the first time their cat wouldn't come down a tree...the guy climbed up, carried her down, charged them $50. Two days later the cat was up there again...after ten days she decided she'd had enough and climbed down on her own. My advice is the same as Simon's...wait a little longer.

simon bennett

Ann McRae wrote:

Funny, but my friend the firefighter said just that to me! Did you ever get the email I sent you a while ago?

Thanks, Simon.
ann

No worries. It isn't easy though - I do understand. My partner and I have a cat and a dog and we run as a pack. Very close family.

I haven't received any email from you... did you send it to:

simon.bennett@gmail.com ?

Ann McRae

He came down!
Well, we found no effective method of encouraging him out - he would just climb higher each time.

But this morning when we woke up, he was waiting at the back door!

He is dusty, hungry and thirsty but does not seem injured!

ann

Ann McRae

simon bennett wrote:

I haven't received any email from you... did you send it to:

simon.bennett@gmail.com ?

I sent it as a reply to a question asked about sports photography, quite a while ago. Can't remember what address I sent it to though.

ann

digismile

Ann McRae wrote:

Well, we found no effective method of encouraging him out - he would just climb higher each time.

But this morning when we woke up, he was waiting at the back door!

He is dusty, hungry and thirsty but does not seem injured!

ann

Kitty's excellent adventure!

Ann,

all new subdivisions in Edmonton are PERFECT for cat people ... no trees! I look at our new trees we planted 2 years ago and wonder if a cat will ever want to climb them ...

Brad

luckyrwe

A cat will not always come down eventually. I toured the Carson City Mint and saw a mummified cat on a tree branch, with an explanation they they do not always come down. It was a strange thing to see at a Mint but oh well.

We had a cat in the tree in our back yard for everal days, it was too high to reach with a ladder, and like you say, who wants it going back there an hour later.

So I got the wayer hose and a high pressure nozzle and squirted it. By the time the water reached the cat there was no pressure, but it was water nonetheless. Every hour I'd come out, turn on the hose, and squirt the cat. After about 4 hours of this the cat decided he'd rather risk the climb down, and when I went out the next time the cat was gone. I hope it decided to stay gone based on the fact that water reached him and he'd get it again.

Ann McRae

digismile wrote:

Kitty's excellent adventure!

Ann,

all new subdivisions in Edmonton are PERFECT for cat people ... no trees! I look at our new trees we planted 2 years ago and wonder if a cat will ever want to climb them ...

Brad

Hi Brad
Our last house was in a brand new subdivision, and it took years for birds to start visiting. We were there 12 years, and the trees were finally getting to be a nice size.
We are now on a lot with mature trees, and I love it, both structurally and for the fact that each tree is a wonderful ecosystem unto itself. Instead of being kept awake by traffic noise, now when I am lying awake at night I hear coyotes and baby birds. Its great!But the cats tree climbing adventure was not so great!
ann

Ann McRae

Hi lucky
Well, a mummified cat woudld not have been cool! My daughter told us she would run away if the cat died in the tree. My son's teammate offered to come over and climb the tree!!!
It was wonderful to wake the kids up and give them the news that the cat came down!

We had sprayed him, coaxed him onto branches toward the house roof, poked him with a tree pruner, shot soccer balls at the tree attempting to dislodge him....everything we did scared him more and caused him to go higher - thanksfully his survival instinct took over and he got down!

ann

David_S85

Ann, That's good news about your now down-to-earth cat. Poor thing. I bet he's real hungry and tired!

Ours is de-clawed (on the front paws only) for that and a couple other reasons. I hate the idea of de-clawing, and cringe at the very thought, but I have come to believe it is a necessary evil and an semi-equitable exchange for our wits sake and theirs. If I lived on a farm, they'd have all their claws.

We're about to get a kitten, and know that they will have (very sharp) claws for the first 8-10 months, so I will do my very best to keep kitty from any tree after your saga. When they're young, something in their head whispers to them "c-l-i-m-b h-i-g-h."

Any photos of the this up-tree kitty?

Ann McRae wrote:

Hi lucky
Well, a mummified cat woudld not have been cool! My daughter told us she would run away if the cat died in the tree. My son's teammate offered to come over and climb the tree!!!
It was wonderful to wake the kids up and give them the news that the cat came down!

We had sprayed him, coaxed him onto branches toward the house roof, poked him with a tree pruner, shot soccer balls at the tree attempting to dislodge him....everything we did scared him more and caused him to go higher - thanksfully his survival instinct took over and he got down!

ann

simon bennett

David... please don't de-claw your new kitten... how'd you like it if someone took your fingernails out from your fingers?

We honestly don't know what's going on with our neighbouring animals apart from the fact they want to spend time with us. Would you like it if the decision was theirs? How would you tell them you loved them?

The decision is yours. Make it as you would want it to be done to you.

luckyrwe

But it is not pulling fingernails from fingers, it is cutting the fingers off at the top knuckle. When it comes to fighting, cats use their BACK claws for self defense. Many people declaw the front paws to save the drapes and leave the rear claws.

Personally if claws bother you I'd say don't get a cat, get a catfish.

David_S85

luckyrwe wrote:

But it is not pulling fingernails from fingers, it is cutting the fingers off at the top knuckle. When it comes to fighting, cats use their BACK claws for self defense. Many people declaw the front paws to save the drapes and leave the rear claws.

Personally if claws bother you I'd say don't get a cat, get a catfish.

Yup. That's exactly right. The tips of the fingers are chopped off. I'm feeling more down about this by the minute. I could just as well edit out the declawing stuff above, but what can I say? Guilty as charged. We mangled our cat 14 years ago by having that done. We don't have to yell at her for tearing up the furniture, and she doesn't terrorize us with her natural habit of clawing things. Its a nice relationship, and the cat loves us and we love her. She still hates us after baths though.

The new one (still looking around for one) might just have a need to tear apart our older (and defenseless) can with front claws. We'll deal with it for a while, but at 8-10 months we will make the decision. Some cats just don't need to be declawed. As I said, I cringe at the thought, but I still think it's just part of the bargain with a house cat. That and the neutering/spading bit.