Messed Up Email of the Day: Cat Lady
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Today’s email of the day comes from a lady whose cat is stuck in a tree.
I have a cat that has been in a tree (about 40 feet up) since Friday.
My son called the fire department and was told that if cat was still there on Saturday, they would come out. Unfortunately, my son had to be at work at 8am and worked until close at 9 pm on Sat. I was on my way back from out of town. Today I called the Fairview Fire department and was, kindly, told to call the Rescue department in Franklin because of my address. Rescue station (in Franklin) told me that they don’t rescue cats anymore, and to call the Williamson County Animal Control….which I did. Asking for Tony Fortner, a friend and head of WCAC, Tony was surprised at the response, or lack of, by the Rescue Squad and said, “they’re the ones we see in the news rescueing cats out of trees. Try again, and ask for the Captain.” I did, and was told by Captain Tim Hood that they do not rescue cats any more.
I said, “what do I do…just let him die in the tree?” His reply…”A cat will not die in the tree. Put some food at the base and walk away.
He’ll come down for the food.” My argument was that my cat is so high up, the food will be eaten by other creatures before he’d ever know it was there.
He has been there since Friday, so he has to be weak….beyond terrified…and it will be freezing tonight. Nothing I said mattered, including an offer to make a nice sized donation to the Rescue Squad. I just needed to vent my frustration and thank you for letting me do so. All I really care about right now is getting my cat down.
Sorry dear, the fire department does not come out to rescue cats from trees. They’ll rescue a cat from inside a burning building but that’s because they’re already there.
Is it possible that your cat is still up there (I know this is over a month old) because people keep coming up to the tree? Cats can climb down very well - it’s an urban legend that they get stuck in trees. He’ll come down.
I’m a longtime cat owner. Cats are basically wild animals. They don’t frighten as easily as we think they do, and they don’t get cold as easily as we think they do.
At some point he *will* get cold & hungry, and he’ll come down.
I’d be interested in hearing how this ulitimately turned out.