Cat in a Tree
Today I want to tell you a story about the time my cat got stuck in a tree.
And more importantly, how his dangerous predicament became a lesson in self value for me.
On the Tuesday evening of Thanksgiving week, Zip ate dinner and went back outside for one last romp. This was typical; what was unusual is that he didn’t return home that night.
Zip loves to hunt, but I’m pretty sure he loves the comfort of the warm, top bunk in my son’s bedroom more. Normally he stays pretty close and always comes back to my calls, whistles or spoon taps on his food bowl. So when he hadn’t come back by the next evening, I was beginning to feel anxious.
We live in the middle of a pine forest with lots of wild animals–armadillos, foxes, rabbits, raccoons, owls.
But the creature I was most concerned about was the coyote.
On Wednesday night, I swore I could hear Zip meowing; I just couldn’t tell from which direction the sound was coming. You see, when you’re in the middle of a pine forest, sound bounces and echoes from every direction. And it was pitch black out there.
My son’s dad was able to narrow down the sound of Zip’s cries to one area of forest across the street from us, and together, along with our son, we traipsed through the woods with flashlights searching for him.
We could tell that Zip was stationary because his whines continuously came from the same spot. We must’ve circled that area of the woods for 45 minutes looking under brush and in the branches of trees that surrounded us, but he was nowhere!
And then, finally, we looked up.
Like waaaaaay up.
60-70 feet up, where two glowing eyes peered down at us from the branch of a gigantic pine tree.
What in the actual?!!!!
There’s no other reason Zip would be that high in a tree unless it’d been to escape the mouth of a predator. (COYOTE, I BET!)
And he had no way to get down. Unless he turned around and came down, butt first, the way his claws are designed to climb. (I learned later from his vet that cats stuck in trees are generally too scared to do that.)
The thing about pine trees is that they don’t have any branches at the bottom; they only sprawl out at the very top. And this particular pine wasn’t close enough to another tree for Zip to jump to and work his way down.
Jumping from where he was meant certain death. So he couldn’t save himself and we couldn’t save him either.
I called the fire department. Their ladder didn’t reach above 25 feet (small town life). They said the only way they could help would be to shoot him out of the tree with their water hose which would obviously cause injury (or worse), so that was a no go.
It was nearly midnight on Thanksgiving Eve. He’d already been stuck in the tree for over 24 hours, and he would be spending another cold night up there.
As we made our way out of the forest and returned home, we could hear Zip’s desperate pleas for help. My son was a wreck (I was, too, but I was trying to hold it together for him).
At this point, I wasn’t worried about coyotes. I was thinking about the owls.
That night I barely slept. Nightmares with full visuals and even sound effects of every scenario that could happen haunted me. I won’t give you details… too gruesome.
But morning came, and it was Thanksgiving, and I had a house full coming.
We checked that Zip was still in the tree first thing. Phew. Still there.
I got to cooking while my son and his dad tried to build a cat elevator by attaching the cat carrier to one end of fishing line (we didn’t have rope long enough to reach that high and Home Depot was closed for the holiday). They drilled a hole in a baseball and attached it to the other end of the line.
The idea was to create a pulley system, but they never succeeded in getting the rope over the branch Zip was perched on, even when trying with a bow and arrow. He was just too high up.
This went on for about 6 hours and then everyone started arriving at our house for Thanksgiving dinner.
For me it was a subdued meal; I was filled with dread. Zip was going to starve, pass out from dehydration, fall and break his neck or get eaten by an owl. I felt like all I could do was just wait for him to die while I sat there completely helpless.
What I didn’t know was that my sister had been communicating since the night before with someone who runs a tree service. Since it was a holiday, logistics were tricky, and so my sis hadn’t mentioned it in case it didn’t work out.
We’d just finished eating our turkey dinner when she turned to me with a big smile and said, “Help is on the way.”
Alisha and Sammy from A Cut Above showed up about 20 minutes later, and within 10 minutes, Sammy had scaled that massive tree and brought Zip back down to safety.
(It literally took longer to unload the rope from their truck and walk into the woods than it did for Sammy to do the actual job of rescuing.)
It was over. And it turned out to be the best Thanksgiving I've ever had.
Not only did the whole situation fill me with gratitude beyond what words can even hope to express, but it gave me a huge lesson in self value.
Everyone had something to offer in this situation.
My family, showing up with love and food and words of encouragement to get us through the day.
My sister, utilizing her network and skill of convincing people to help on a holiday.
My son and his dad, for their refusal to give up on the cat elevator, an endeavor which settled me because we were doing something, regardless of how fruitless it may have been.
And of course, Sammy, the cat rescuing tree climber.
While the rest of us lacked the knowledge, skill or gear to scale 70-feet up a tree, Sammy quickly assessed the situation and said:
“Oh. This is nothing.” Nonchalant. No big deal. I do this sort of thing everyday kind of attitude.
His “nothing” was my EVERYTHING.
So, the great lesson of Thanksgiving 2022 for me was this:
Just because something comes super easy to you, don’t think for one second it isn’t important, hard (or impossible) for someone else to do, or that it doesn’t matter.
We each have something to offer that is valuable, precious and needed.
Please share your gifts – someone needs what only YOU can offer!
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One of my special gifts is detail. Putting all the pieces together to tell your financial story and help you make better business decisions is one of my favorite ways to spend my time.
Who needs my help?