Prior to my rescue attempt, an animal control officer had been out to see what he could do, but when the officer saw the situation he immediately called the dispatcher to see if the fire company would come out. They said no so the officer climbed as high as he could on a borrowed ladder and poked at Charlie with a long pole. Not surprisingly that didn’t make him want to come down.
I came on Charlie’s 4th day in the tree, and after getting my rope into the tree I commenced what promised to be a very simple rescue - or so I thought. As I got close to Charlie, however, he started showing a lot of highly anxious behavior and he ended up bolting up the trunk to a couple of higher resting points.
As any cat owner can tell you, cats don’t like to pee unless they can cover up their waste by scratching around in the dirt. I think it is safe to say that Charlie hadn’t peed at all in his four day ordeal, because when his fear prompted him to start emptying his bladder, the urine flowed for more than a minute and all I could do was lean to the side and try to avoid the stream.
Once Charlie had relieved himself he seemed much more relaxed and willing to hang out with me. In a relatively short amount of time I was able to gain his trust, lift him off the limb he was on, and get him into my arms. He was so stressed out that the fur was practically billowing off of him as I pet him.
A few minutes after I got him in my arms he was in the rescue bag and being slowly lowered to the loving arms of his relieved owner.
