Jack's adventure

So, after getting back from the graduation, I came home and immediately packed to go to Stanhope and house-sit for some friends of mine. She's in Germany, he had a retreat in Los Angeles to go to, and their dogs needed caring for. It was fun, and I was even ok with the extra driving because in that part of NJ there's actually a country station that comes in and everyone knows if you are listening to a song about combine drivers chug-a-lug-a-luggin' five miles an hour, then your drive gets so much easier.

On Wednesday, however, 287 was closed and I got to work late because a tanker turned over and spilled all over the highway. I guess it is the week for big rig accidents (see the blog post "Traffic").

Also on Wednesday night, mom called me to say that Jack hadn't come home and she was going to bed, he would have to spend the night in the garage. Sister was also missing so I thought maybe the two of them had gone off somewhere. I didn't think much of it, because our other cat Fluffy used to take extended vacations when we would let her out, but she always came back when she was hungry or bored with whatever camping trip she went off on. On Thursday night, I stopped in at home and Jack still wasn't back. I started whistling for him and thought I heard something. Sister also reappeared, but without Jack. So I listened again, and sure enough, I can hear him crying somewhere. At that point mom came home so we started walking towards the noise, until we found ourselves at the base of the neighbor's tree. Jack was about 40 feet up, and crying miserably.

Wondering where we could get a ladder that big (no firetruck would fit into this area where we were, without cutting down some trees) I called the non-emergency number for the police/fire department and was told by Sergeant Bitch that "I've never seen a dead cat in a tree." (Really, is that helpful? Thanks for reminding me my baby could DIE. I could tell you I've never seen a dead human in a tree but if I went up after him and got stuck, you'd consider it more of an emergency wouldn't you?)

Knowing that I had to get up insanely early in the morning, I told Jack that if he didn't come down on his own, he was going to have to wait till morning because I could not stay awake any longer at that hour of the night. As we walked away, he started wailing again ("Don't leave meeeeeeeee!!").

The next morning it was raining and I had to go to Stanhope to let the dogs pee and then back to this area to go to work. 18 hours of rain apparently was not enough torture for Jack to drive him to figure out what to do. My neighbor tied some broom handles together to knock him out of the tree so we could catch him in a tarp and even that didn't work.

Saturday afternoon, I finally had some time to go over to the tree and just sit there helplessly staring at him. It had been 63 hours since he got stuck up there, and since the animal hospital, animal shelter, animal control, and tree-cutting service were all useless, I was on the verge of calling someone with a paintball gun to shoot him out of the tree. I climbed a nearby tree and scooted down it to show him what to do. After talking to him for an hour, he stopped crying a bit and watched me climb trees. Mom was there too and had a can of tuna open so he could smell it. I don't know if the aroma reached 40 feet up, but it certainly was strong where we were standing. Finally he decided to swing his butt around instead of going head first like he'd been trying to do for the past few days. Finally some progress! We started cheering him on.

At about 10 feet up he found another branch, and stopped for a breather. This time he continued to try to go head-first, and ended up falling the last few feet. Now, he won't leave our sides. He is the most needy cat, and if he were human, I'd take him to a psychologist. While he was stuck in the tree, the girls got adopted finally, so he came home to an empty house. I think that adds to his neediness, because now he doesn't have anyone to tease or pounce on.

So that ends the saga. 63 hours in the tree, 18 hours of rainy, 50-degree weather, and 23 people involved in rescue attempts/ideas, the little nutball is out of the tree.