Furry Little Creatures

This week has been fraught with drama at the Soul Gardening household.

Our neighbor is a man in his 50s who I can only assume is a total pothead from way back judging from the fact that he spends most of his time sitting outside on his patio smoking and listening to Pink Floyd and Leonard Skynard at all hours of the day and night.

Being a pothead myself, I don't technically have a problem with his lifestyle choice, but dude, you're 50. Sitting outside getting high at noon every day makes a lot more sense when you're 19. I don't have much interaction with him because I find him a little strange, and after what happened this week, I am boycotting him completely.

While I was outside taking out the recycling Monday morning, I saw him purposefully making his way in my direction.

"I think your cat is stuck up a tree" he says to me.

"I don't think so" I reply. "Both of our cats were inside this morning."

"Well, do you want to come and take a look?" he asks.

So I follow him over to a sixty foot tall Live Oak tree at the back of HIS property. The lowest branch on the tree is at least 30 feet up and sure enough there is a tiny black and white kitten stranded in the crook.

Now, both of our cats are full grown and they are gray and white. He KNEW this wasn't my cat and he just pawned the problem off on me, a hormonal pregnant woman who can't climb trees at the moment. Not all potheads are nice people.

I asked him how long the cat had been up there and he offhandedly answered at least a day or two. I tried coaxing the kitty down but he was more than likely feral and too scared to come down on his own. Every time I walked away from the tree, the kitten would mewl so pitifully, my heart broke a little bit more. 

After consulting our local animal control who said they couldn't help, but to call them back after I got the cat down from the tree if I wanted them to pick it up, I caved to the cliche and called the fire department.

I must have sounded desperate because the fire department actually sent a ladder truck out to help. They set up an extendable ladder and tried to get the cat down, but the poor thing was so scared it just went further up the tree. At this point my hormones are getting the better of me and I'm very upset over the idea that this little cat has been stuck in a tree with no food and water and there is no foreseeable way to get him down.

Every now and then my neighbor would come back out of his house to make some inane comment on the progress of the situation. I was having a hard time even being civil to him. Not knowing anything else to do, we left some food at the foot of the tree, hoping the kitten would get hungry and desperate enough to jump down, but yesterday morning, he was still in the tree.

The situation was weighing heavily on me. It got to the point that I couldn't even go over to the tree anymore because it was just making me too sad. I stopped at our vet's office yesterday before work to get his advice. He basically said he thought we had done everything we could and that eventually the cat would come down on his own, or pass out from exhaustion and fall out of the tree. The thought of waiting for either one of those things to happen was almost too much for me to take.

Luckily, by the time I got home from work yesterday afternoon, the cat was down. We didn't see him, but apparently at some point, he rescued himself. Jeff had gone over to put more food and water out under the tree and he was nowhere to be found.

And now, I can get back to my life.   

Comments

[Ortizzle]

Well, yes, you DID do everything you could to get the poor animal down. A friend of mine used to say "You'll never find a dead cat next to a full bowl of food." (Referring to cat's being picky eaters, of course, and his refusal to buy special stuff of cats who ignored the bowl of cat chow.)

Your neighbor sounds like a total cretin. Stoned or otherwise. You are so kind. I think I would have just said, "Nope, not my cat. Guess you'll have to ask the other neighbors."

[Nancy]

Damn, I left a comment before, but the browser crashed...

I was going to say (did say) that I'd be a wreck too if I saw the poor cat in the tree, and I don't even have pregnancy hormones to blame. I am glad it got down on its own.

And your neighbor sounds like a complete dumbass.

[Chris]

Oh, how stressful - especially with all those spare hormones making you even more susceptible to the plight of small helpless young creatures...

[Tink]

Bless your sweet hormonal soul. I would have done the same thing. Well... Maybe not the fire truck. But I might have recruited some neighborhood people to help.

Oh and I thought about you while Hoop and I were painting this weekend ;). For reasons probably only obvious to yourself. The line "You just wait til Teebs isn't pregnant" came up.

[Amy Y.]

Oh good lord! I would have gone crazy with worry, too! I love that you managed to get the fire department to come out to help you! That is awesome. See, there is still some good left in the world.

Next time your cat had a vomit episode, I'd take him over to paint your neighbors porch. I'd do it secretly, though. He does sound weird.

[Nocturnal]

You definitely did your duty, you can rest assured of that. And yes, your neighbour needs to chill on the Haight Ashbury scene.

[Heather]

Oh no poor kitty! I'd be unable to sleep or leave it alone. So glad everything's ok.

[The Fat Lady Sings]

Oh you poor thing! You have been through the wars. I'm so sorry you got sucked in - but then I always do too - and I cry just as much. Your neighbor sounds like a dick on legs. I'm glad it all worked out.