I'm gonna cheat a little for this entry, as the delightful part of the story happened this morning. Yesterday, our big ginger cat Bernie did not come home from his outdoor adventure for second kitty dinner (our cats get four meals a day, 3 cans split three ways and 1 dry food meal: breakfast (can) at around 10am, a little kitty lunch (dry food) around 3pm, first kitty dinner (can) around 6pm, and second kitty dinner (can) around 11pm). When we were ready to go to bed at 11:30pm, he still was not home, so my husband put his shoes and coat on and did a quick perimeter walk of the house to see if he could find him. And he did. Bernie was 30ft up a dead tree in our backyard, positioned in the V of two branches, making a pitiful moaning meowing sound. Just a few hours before, my husband had said, "Remember when Sanders was stuck in a tree?" Well, history repeated itself that very same day, just with a different ginger cat.
My husband grabbed a ladder and a light to attempt a kitty rescue mission, and I put on my shoes and coat to help. For almost an hour, we called to him to try to coax him down, positioned and repositioned the ladder to try to get it just right on the tree, and my husband climbed up multiple times to try to get him. Twice, he was super close; he was able to grab the nape of Bernie's neck and pull, but it was no use. Bernie's 20 claws were buried deep within the bark of the tree and he was NOT letting go. There was nothing else we could do for the night. I googled some advice and resources for cats stuck in trees; apparently most cats will eventually find their way back down a tree. But I vowed that in the morning if he was still stuck, I would first call the vet for advice to see if they knew of anyone who could help, and I also found the numbers of 5 local arborists whom I would ask for help (despite depictions in pop culture, most local firefighters typically do NOT respond to help cats in trees). Thankfully the temperature would not drop below freezing, and I had hopes that Bernie would either find a safe way down, or would still be up there waiting for us in the morning. We set our alarms for 8am (when the vet's office would open). It was a nerve-wracking night of sleep; I had two different dreams of him being home in the morning, one where he was limping badly, presumably from falling or crash landing from the tree.
In the morning when the alarms went off, I immediately went to the window to look out. I did not see Bernie in the tree. I also did not see him sprawled on the ground beneath the tree. I breathed a slightly hesitant sign of relief. Did that mean he was okay? I ran downstairs, and sitting at the back door was Bernie! Perfectly safe and sound, though crying (probably from hunger and cold). I let him in and fed him (and the other monsters) an early kitty breakfast, and afterwards he immediately fell asleep on a pillow on the couch and that's where he has been all morning. My big old Bernie, delightfully at home where he belongs. I don't know how he got down, I don't know what was going on in his head the whole time, I don't even know the reason he was in the tree in the first place (was a chasing a squirrel? was a coyote chasing him?). We'll never know the answers, but I am delighted that this story had a happy ending.
With delight,
♥Jamie
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