Zibby's 2nd Treetop Rescue

This is the story of 2 cats and a pack of trespassing dogs.  The trespassing dogs have made it a habit to come to Jenny's and Zibby's (they are the two cats) property to cause trouble.  Whenever the dogs come, Jenny hides under a wood pile, but Zibby runs for the nearest tree and climbs to get away from the dogs.  When the dogs leave, Jenny comes out from under the wood pile to do what cats do when they are not being chased by dogs.  The problem is that she usually finds that her friend, Zibby, high in a tree and scared to come down.

Such was the case a couple of months ago when I first rescued Zibby after she had spent 5 days in a tree for, and such was the case this past weekend when I got a call from Zibby's owners saying she had been in a different tree for the last 5 days.

When I arrived on site Jenny was napping at the base of the tree Zibby was imprisoned in.  According to the owners Jenny had kept vigil most of the last 5 days at the base of the tree.  Zibby was about 60 or 70 feet up a beautiful hickory tree and meowed mournfully as soon as I stepped out of the car.  In the process of getting a line in the tree near her, she became scared and her mournful meows changed to the long, guttural meows of a cat dealing with severe fear.  The bouncing throw line did prompt Zibby to climb down about 15 feet to a sturdy union where the trunk splits into 4 main leaders.  For a time we thought Zibby might come down the rest of the way on her own, but she opted instead to stay put and wait for me to ascend.

By the time I started climbing, Zibby's meows changed back to the mournful "rescue me please" meows and my concerns that she would lead me on a goose chase around the canopy of the giant hickory tree subsided.  Within 15 minutes after I began the climb Zibby was in my arms enjoying some cuddles.  She went happily into the rescue sack and after a brief ride down she was in her owner's arms again and gobbling up kibble in the garage by the mouthful.