Yes, I'm screaming. This is one of the craziest events I've ever experienced.

There is a cat that has been stuck in the tree across the street since Monday!

HELP!

We learned about it Tuesday evening and started doing what we could to get the precious little thing down.

Hubby and neighbor (in the pouring rain) used a 25 foot extension ladder and it wasn't quite long enough. We threw tuna to the cat, lodged some down the tree, and put some at the base of the tree.

We called 911 - "Mam, if they can climb up, they can climb down. We can't help."

Animal shelter closed until 9:00 AM

Volunteer fire department - "Try calling the fire department closest to you. We can't help."

Called our fire house. The fireman laughed at me when I told him the story but came to the rescue. When they arrived with the hook and ladder truck, they couldn't get to the tree due to electrical, phone and cable wires between the street and tree.

Meantime, neighbors are calling to see if the cat is still in the tree.

I'm calling other neighbors to see who the cat belongs to. No luck!

Meantime, the cat is crying!

Wednesday:

I lift the bathroom window and the cat is still crying.

The church staff tries rescuing the cat by using another ladder because the cat has climbed to another part of the tree which we still can't reach. Tried throwing tuna again. No luck. It's still raining. The cat is drenched and crying.

Church calls help lines and no one will help.

In the afternoon, hubby goes to the Y to exercise and sees a sign for a missing cat. Y employee contacts owner. Hubby comes home to meet owner who is ecstatic to learn his cat has been found.

Owner tries to get the cat downby calling her, coaxing her with toys, etc.

Owner's friend comes over and they are holding a white sheet for the cat to jump. I thought that was funny. No luck.

Owner calls friend who is a roofer. Longer ladder. Still no luck. The cat got scared and went another 20 feet up the tree.

This is nuts!

Hubby tries calling fire department again because we heard that if the fire department calls Baltimore Gas and Electric and tells them they can't get it, BGE will come to the rescue. Fireman agrees to make the call for us.

BGE shows up and the cat is too high in the tree to help.

Thursday:
6:00 am - cat still crying while the owner is sitting beneath the tree.

Any ideas?

The tree is gorgeous. It's huge. The trunk is huge and their are no limbs until about 30-35 feet up.

Maybe a telephone pole climber? Don't they have special shoes to climb those poles? Keep us posted!

Oh my gosh! Poor kitty! I would be so stressed out about that! What a great story for the newspaper or local TV news. That might get some attention to help the kitty. After a week up the tree,it might be getting pretty hungry and try to backdown out of the tree on it's own. Let us know what happens.

No ideas for you, Dotsie. Just sympathy. Poor little kitty.

Cookie, funny you should say that. I called our local news station about an hour ago. Asked if they were interested in a human interest piece. I told them the fire department and BGE had been by, plus all the other attempts. She sounded interested. Said she'd call me if they were coming. I've heard nothing. The owner remains under the tree in a chair. This is such a distraction. I can't stand it.

Hubby called to tell me he called a tree guy and he wasn't interested. He's afraid he would be on the top of the ladder and the cat would jump at him and he would fall. Said it's too dangerous.

I'm thinking if the TV station comes by, someone will see it and come to the rescue.

Want me to send Trixie up there?

I say you write an article called, "The Cat That Wouldn't Come Down."

What about one of those buckets? Don't they have them where you are?

Maybe if the cat saw "other" cats at the base of the tree, it would come down? Then again, THEY might go up. Forget that ... Then you'd have Cats-on-a-limb....

Have you tried catnip, Dotsie?

I don't think I've ever heard of a dead cat in a tree. I think if everyone leaves it alone, and maybe the owner sits quietly at the bottom with some nice smelly cat food, it will come down when it's ready.

My 2 cents...
K

My first husband was an electrical lineman. They have ankle spikes and waist harnesses that they use for climbing poles. Know any lineman?
It's worth a try, I guess. Good luck!!!

On my gosh. I've hardly gotten a darn thing done today because of this cat.

This is CRAZY!

The TV reporter and camera man were here for over two hours. They interviewed yours truly. Hey, the guy asked me what I did. I told him, and he wants to do a piece on the association. What the heck? I figured I better do the interview for him for his cat story, so I did.

Anyway, I've seen lots of people climb up the tree today.

A couple walked by on their way into town. Next thing you know, there was this huge sign truck with a tremedous reach and cherry picker bucket. The couple saw the guy working in town and said he'd give him a few bucks to come get a cat out of a tree. He was 10 feet away and the cat took off up the tree. Now the cat is about 80 feet in the air. NO LIE. Plus it's out on a limb. This is pitiful.