my kitten is stuck in a tree!

My little boy Berach (4 months old barely) got out while I was at work...

When I got in I called him and he didn't come so I started searching the neighborhood for him, I searched and searched and called and called for 2 hours!
finally I came in, it's freezing outside, and then I decided to go out again for another look.

I heard him !!

Finally I found him and he's stuck in the neighbors tree! WAY UP THERE. there is seriously no way I can go up after him, or anyone else unless it's the fire dept.
I don't know what to do!! It's almost 1am now and I've already woke up the neighbors and made them let me into their yard, stole a can of tuna from them to coerce him with and made myself sick with worry, and still he won't budge!
I don't know what to do and I am freaking out. I'm afraid he'll freeze! It only gets about 40 here at night but he's so little and he keeps crying, I know he's scared. I'm afraid that the longer he's up there, the more stressed he'll get and the less likely he'll come down on his own...

Help! Please someone tell me you can some ideas...

Don't worry he will not freeze, he will eventually come down, they figure it out, and it won't take long.
sometimes the more you call him, the longer it will take him to figure out,
they almost play games, cats climb it is in there blood, everyone thinks they are in trouble and they are not. last resort would be call the fire department
give him at least most of the day today see what happens, I am sure he will be ok. happy thanksgiving to you

I had an old country vet for years, and I called him when one of my young cats got stuck. He asked me if I had ever seen cat bones in a tree. He assured me that kitty would figure it out if he got too cold, and after a few hours, sure enough, down he came! A little shaken up and hungry, but none the worse for wear.
I am not trying to make light of you kitty's plight, but he really will come down eventually. Please keep us posted.

If the fire dept, won't help you, call your local animal rescue and ask for advice! Surely they could give you name of a tree service company with a bucket truck! Sending many come down quickly and safely vibes for your baby!!

My thought is to call the fire dept. I'm sure other folks will have ideas, but it being Thanksgiving the board may be slow.

Call them? Maybe they can come right out and get him down. Meanwhile, talk to your kitten as calmly as you can.

Please let us know what happens!!!!

I went to the fire dept. this morning.

they came down and everything but they're truck ladder won't reach and they won't climb up there to get him. they said he'll come down on his own eventually...
it was 27 degrees here last night...

He seems to be fine today, not crying, it's sunny outside and he actually seems to be enjoying himself.
I know he must be hungry but he's not budging.

I don't know what else to do
I was up all night, checking on him every half hour or so...
I'm exhausted

Originally Posted by saya

He seems to be fine today, not crying, it's sunny outside and he actually seems to be enjoying himself.

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Well, that's a cat for ya. You're worried sick and he's having fun!

Again, I'm sure others will have ideas. All I can think of is to keep checking on him and talk to him in a "normal" voice so he knows you're down there and he'll probably work his way down. If he's liking it up there and/or scared, he may just come down a little at a time. Maybe put some food out, lower in the tree if you can reach it?

Again, please keep us posted. Is there anyone in your family who can climb the tree a little ways and coax him?

Found this online. I hadn't thought of a professional animal handler (Step 6), but that's an option...
http://www.ehow.com/how_117308_cat-tree.html

This must be so upsetting ......... I did a quick search to see if I could find some ideas.....

One person said the fire dept woulnt help, but she called a tree service, who did help.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...of_a_tree.html

This place says

If your efforts only send the cat farther up the tree, call an animal shelter or a local humane society. A professional animal handler can rescue the cat quite quickly

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http://www.ehow.com/how_117308_cat-tree.html

I hope you can get him, I know you must be beside yourself.

Heres some more info ....... maybe one of these will work ....

1) Find yourself a can of wet food (or, better still, some freshly cooked bacon) and try to lure the cat down,
2) Call the humane society, fire department, wildlife/pest removal companies, & your local tree-pruners and find out who's willing to help you get the cat out of the tree,
3) If the tree isn't too big, use the longest ladder you can find to get closer to the cat (& to offer it food up close) while making sure not to scare it further up the tree,
4) Call local no-kill rescue organizations & see if they can send a humane-trapper to help catch the cat somehow,
5) Keep looking for ideas & suggestions online,
6) Call the local media & see if they'll pressure the fire department etc to rescue the cat, in exchange for a great local-color story & a happy ending,
7) NEVER assume that the cat will come down itself.. and, if you can avoid alarming it, check on it every couple hours to see if it's still stuck.

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Call a tree-trimming service, or if you are in the country, a logging firm. Explain the situation to them and see if they offer “cat retrieval services.â€

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Sprinkle soiled kitty litter down on the ground for her. She smells a familiar scent she may just climb down on her own.

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Another site said that with kittens, it's important to be proactive and move on it quickly rather than wait them out. They also suggested the tree removal company idea.

They also suggested calling the local media which made me think - it's Thanksgiving. If you call your local news, maybe they'll come out and help and in exchange they can cover it as a holiday story.

also found this:

"My cat was stuck in a tree tonight about 20-30 ft. up. My husband and I attached a rope to a large mesh laundry basket and put food in the bottom. Then I climbed a little ways up the tree until I could swing the rope over a branch near my cat. (A rock tied to the end of the rope makes it easier to swing, just watch out for the cat.) My husband caught the end of the rope and raised the basket up to the cat. She jumped in and started eating as he lowered her down.
This worked well for us, I hope it helps someone else. If your not careful, it may just scare the cat further up, but it might be worth a try if nothing else works.)"

There are some other good ideas here, too:

http://www.felinexpress.com/cat-care/cat-in-tree.asp

I'm freaking out. I can't enjoy thanksgiving with my family because I am just worried SICK.

He wants to come down but he's scared, and I don't blame him. The tree is HUGE. The nearest branch to the ground is at least ten feet up, probably more.

It's almost been 24 hours now I think... at least it will be soon. I can't bear to think of him spending another night up in that tree, no one can/will help so far, and the tree isn't even in my yard... it's in the neighbors, and while they're nice people I can't exactly camp out in their backyard...

Because he is so young, you need to start making phone calls to at least shelters to see if they can help you. Here are some #'s from Napa, CA. You do not want him to get weak from not eating, being so young.

Did you call any tree service?

http://local.aol.com/aol/local?invoc...zed_listings.M

Originally Posted by saya

He wants to come down but he's scared, and I don't blame him. The tree is HUGE. The nearest branch to the ground is at least ten feet up, probably more.

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How close is he to the lowest branch? If he's close to it, could you try the basket trick?

Also, there's probably an emergency vet open. They may know who to call. If you call your regular vet, chances are it being a holiday you'll get a recording with an emergency vet's number on it.

There are "Tree Doctors / Tree Surgeons" who climb trees for a living to prune branches high up and to treat tree rot etc.

A friend of mine in Australia is one and he tells me that he's rescued many cats from really tall trees.

Not sure what you look under in the phone book. And given that tomorrow is a holiday you may not be able to get anyone to come help you until next week.

Kitty is down!!!!!

What a crazy couple of days I've had. On top of the fact that my poor kitty was stuck in the tree and I was literally freaking out, I had thanksgiving at my house this year with a bunch of friends staying over from out of state.

So here's what happened... after the fire dept came...
I called EVERYONE.
every vet, shelter, animal rescue, emergency hotline, tree service, you name it! anything that looked vaguely associated in the phone book, I called. I got online and searched every site I could get my hands on and essentially no one either could, or would help. (Most didn't answer the phone since it was a holiday).

I'm watching him... the closest branch to the ground was 15 feet... he was about another ten feet higher than that. I'd been up all night, checking on him every half hour or so and continued to do so throughout my entire thanksgiving plight (I COOKED TOO!)
The neighbors, where the tree is, had their entire family over as well.
We had quite a few things working against us...
1) holiday
2) tree is very tall and NOT in our yard or on public property
3) no one believed that my cat was STUCK, everyone thought he would just come down even though he was clearly trying to come down and couldn't AND he'd already been up there all night.
4) the neighbors DID NOT want us up in their tree, worried that we would fall and sue or something...
and 5) we didn't have a ladder tall enough to reach the first branch.

*sigh*

So I walked over to the neighbors place to BEG THEM to let us into their yard, which was awful because they obviously were trying to enjoy their holiday and there were no less than 30 people over there in their backyard.
I knocked and knocked and rang the doorbell and no answer.
I really didn't want to yell over the fence for them but I had no choice!! The sun would be setting in about an hour and then we would have to leave kitty up for another whole night!
NO WAY was I gonna let that happen...
I finally got their attention, I called the lady over and spent a long time talking to her, trying to talk her into letting us over there (we were gonna try the basket trick since they didn't want us in the tree...), they were being VERY stubborn about letting us over.
It was clear that none of them were taking me seriously, making jokes about burning down the tree and knocking him out with a rock...
BUT I bit my tongue and kept my cool and kept on trying to convince them...
I ran next door to my other neighbors house where I borrowed his ladder (16 feet) and some rope. I came back, I tried some more. I argued with my family over what we were going to do, I talked to the neighbors some more...
Finally, I lost it. I couldn't hold back any longer, I was exhauseted, frustrated and heartbroken, I asked my BF to continue to try to persuade the neighbors and I went into my room to CRY

Meanwhile, Berach is STILL in the tree, scared, crying and visibly weak.

Next, I hear my mother making matters worse by hurling insults over the fence at the neighbors!! Oh NOOOO!! I ran outside and started hissing threats at my mother to please SHUT UP. ... she was making matters so much worse.

Finally, my BF (Shawn) talks them into allowing us into their yard with the ladder...
The stipulation is that, "he must not leave the top rung".
So, we bring all of our gear over the fence, the neighbor is eyeing us the whole time, shawn sets the ladder on the side of the tree and ascends.
Berach sees Shawn coming up and is really getting excited, he's trying to come down as far as he can, and once Shawn hits the top rung, he keeps going! All the women in the yard gasp! (omg he LEFT THE TOP STEP) He just kept climbing all the way up to my kitty! Once he got to him, Berach lowered his head and let Shawn put him in his backback and zip it up. He didn't struggle or complain at all. Then down they both came...

The neighbors didn't say a word.

We grabbed everything and came back home... and kitty is safe and sound omg I am so RELIEVED!!!
I have no doubt that he would've stayed up there another night had Shawn not ignored the neighbors orders.
He is my hero right now. He is Berach's hero.

Berach seemed to be shaken up but okay. He immediately ate and drank and then went and stunk up his kitty box ew.
He then spent the entire night either in my arms or laying around with the family...
Today he seems like he may have a bit of a cold... he goes to the vet tomorrow as a precaution...

thank god, the crisis is over.

Everybody, thank you so much for your support and ideas, they really helped...

Hooray....
Berach is finally down from the tree.

Wow what an ordeal and what crabby neighbors

Im really glad he is home, safe and warm. Please keep us upadated as to what the vet says

I am so glad you got him, I'm thinking I would t-p the neighbours tree, what grumpy people