Thursday Seeds | The Cat

I’ve posted before about the book by Blake Snyder, “Save the cat.”  It’s a great book about writing and understanding of story from the inside out. This past weekend, I had a taste of that story in the literal sense. I had a cat that I could not find.

He was last reported up a tree. Chased there by a neighbor’s dog. Jack, the cat, has done this before. His flee mechanism is to go UP. Dogs can’t get you when you are up. The only problem is getting down again. Just weeks ago, this happened. He was up a smaller tree and had to figure out how to get down. 

We looked at the tree. He’s not on that tree. He must have come down. He is hurt? He is afraid? The road, did he run to the road? The millions of questions, some off the rails, most practical and grounded all come out as this gal is stomping through the beautiful woods near home. Follow the water drains. That was next. Calling out a million times to no answer or not a heard answer. The day glared on. The sun is setting. Still no sign. It’s time to get on the phone and start posting. Get an App. Get the pictures, and there are a LOT of this cat.

The day is night now. Hugely helpful suggestions come from another kitty momma. She tells me about how I need things outside that kitty can smell, and also water for dehydration. These things occupy the heavy heart. The calling out the door continues. 

The night is gone, it’s light outside and at 7am, there is no kitty curled up on the blanket. He is still missing. I’m changing the water left out for him. My panic is extreme. I’m downing the B12 and the tears and snot are hard to mop up with a Kleenex. I thought I had more time with him was in my thoughts the night before. He’s only three… A tree climber.

I resolve to do another walking round by the road to be sure he’s not in it or by the side of it. He’s not and that is the solace. The neighborhoods get canvased. Maybe they have seen something? I meet the neighbors in the other subdivisions. One lady gives me a hug. She gets it and I needed it. 

Back to the house again. I need water and a small break. He could be there waiting for me. He isn’t. I head back out again, talking to neighbors about flyers and which neighborhoods to canvas next. I resolve to go back to the original woods and the tree where he was last seen. The water drains that way, I’ll follow the woods and see if he went that way. It is the trail that the deer take when they arrive here. The tree calls to me. How many times have a looked at it? Many times in the last 30 hours. It’s a clear cat voice. THANK God! Now where is he? I move to the clearing hoping to see him in the trees.

The ivy is moving. That’s how we track birds, movement. Ivy doesn’t move like that. It’s him! Hope is growing at amazing rates in my heart now as I move to the clearing to look up. There he is, looking down to me crying!  He’s found. I’m going to be ok. He’s going to be ok. The leg of this journey is the easy part. I KNOW where he is.

It’s two stories up. He is in a little nest of ivy around this poplar tree with a hollowed out section at its base. The ivy is mostly dead but if left to continue, would strangle the tree. Right now, it looks like that’s all there is that is holding my cat up in the air. There aren’t branches where he is, they are two feet above him. Even with the clearing, getting a ladder to this tree that is that high, would be a risky feat. It’s time to call a tree service. 

So that app next door. It’s not a bad one. It served me best in that search for a tree service on a Sunday afternoon. How many local tree services would come out to rescue a cat on a Sunday afternoon? If they would come, you pay. I found one! They came, we haggled price, they were there within the hour. It was a long hour for me. That cat was tired. I was tired. But I did have sense enough to pull the cat backpack from the closet. This will help them secure him without worry of escape while making it back to the ground.

Here is the tree guy, up in the tree with black bag tied to the rope under him. My neighbor vet showed up. She did a quick check of Jack once he was on the ground. He was freaked out but friendly, not claws, just love. And that’s what I wish I had been in this whole thing, no claws, just love. But I wasn’t. I had to claw through my own worry and resistance to find him. I’m grateful to have more days with him. The cat got saved by a full community. I’m grateful for them too.

Where is Jack now?

Air tagged and lounging at home… He smells like trees days later. Poplar trees are now a huge favorite. I won’t forget the smell.