The daring rescue

[darkemeralds]

As I sat over coffee this morning with my mom, yapping about my trip (from which I got home late last night, and about which I hope to do a bit more writing soon), the piteous crying of a cat gradually impinged on my awareness.



I went outside and followed the cries. A beautiful ginger Maine coon was perched at the very ridge of my neighbor's very tall and steeply pitched garage, clearly having bounded up there via a series of fences, either pursuing or pursued by something, and unable to get down. She was wailing and panting in full sunlight, and the temperature was rising fast towards today's high of 90° F/32° C.

I borrowed my sister's extension ladder from across the street; the cat's mom, who soon came along in response to the aforementioned piteous cries, recruited another neighbor to climb the ladder with an Ikea bag for a cat-carrier, after she and I both admitted the inadvisability of getting up there ourselves.


(Of course, I was there to snap phone-cam pics.)

By means of this emergency, I made the acquaintance of four of my neighbors--Kennedy the ginger Maine coon, Kennedy's moms, and the agile former house painter who brought the distressed kitty down in a sort of furry fireman's carry.

Kennedy is fine, and her moms just dropped by with a vase of dahlias and a thank you card! It's nice to be home.

Comments

[roxy]

Huh! I was just thinking about you as I logged on and behold--there you are! And with tales of heroics! Look at you, cat saver! And what a lovely thank you from Kennedy's mom!

[dine]

I love tales of heroic rescues! and how nice that people were able to bond over said experience, and that Kennedy is again safely on the ground (hopefully to stay for a while).

I can't wait to hear about your adventurs in travel; I certainly hope you had a blast, and that you rest up before resuming the daily slog

[darkemeralds]

It was nice to be part of something that made a difference in someone's life.

The trip was wonderful, and I'm resting up, mostly from the jet lag and disorientation, for three days before going back to work on Monday. I really need a vacation from the vacation, but that's not gonna happen.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

You're a CAT HEROINE, that's what you are, yesyesYES!

[darkemeralds]

Don't know if I'm a heroine, but I do love cats and couldn't stand by while one suffered. It was HOT out there!

[donutsweeper]

Aww. I love Maine Coons.

Glad the kitty is okay

[darkemeralds]

It's my favorite cat breed. They're beautiful, big, and friendly. And generally not climbers or jumpers, which made this incident unexpected.

[donutsweeper]

My first cat was a Maine Coon, he was a totally amazing kitty. He did climb sometimes, he had an small apple tree in our old backyard and while he usually just sharpened his claws on it occassionally he would climb it too (and then mew piteously from the branches but wouldn't let us get him down, he'd jump down eventually)

I always thought all the rest of the cats I'd ever get would be Maine Coons considering how much I love the breed, but now we have 3 and they adopted/needed us and none are Maine Coons so oh well.

[darkemeralds]

Cats choose people, not the other way around, don't you find? My Maine Coon, Monsoon, is depicted in my icon. He didn't live long, sadly--hit by a car--and though like you I say I'd have another Maine coon in a heartbeat, I seem to have been adopted by a stray.

She's Maine-coon-ish, and lovely, but yeah. She picked me.

[donutsweeper]

The stray that literally adopted us (aka started coming around and would not leave) is a lynx point siamese. The two we saved when a rescue organization was overwhelmed don't look enough like one breed or another to figure out what they are, one is a generic tabby the other is probably a cymric, but who knows.

[ranunculus]

Kitties on roofs - not good in the heat. Good thinking to get the ladder.

Sounds like it is even better for meeting the neighbors than having the cows get out! That was always the way we met our neighbors when I was a kid...

[darkemeralds]

It's sort of the urban version of the cows escaping, isn't it?

[ranunculus]

Pretty much the same, except you don't have to repair the lawn where the cows have made big hoof prints or apologize about the fact that they are drinking out of the swimming pool!!

[darkemeralds]

LOL! No. I can't say those are consequences I've ever had to deal with.

[ranunculus]

When I was a kid there was a -short- period of time when Dad tried to run cows on our place and on some rental property across the valley. The rental piece had horrible fences and we were always getting calls... Didn't take Dad too long to decide he wasn't a very good rancher and go on to planting grapes.

[lyr]

Welcome home! And I'm glad Kennedy is fine.

[darkemeralds]

Thanks!

Kennedy was out exchanging yowls and hisses with Graydie by yesterday evening, so she does seem to be in form.

[roseambr]

This is a great story! I love that you are always drawn to Maine coons, either as saving, rescuing, parenting or just loving. An animal just naturaly drawn to you. Yay for saving the cat and for meeting neighbors. My neighbor and I are in the midst of rescuing some abandoned kittens and their mom from a hous up the road where the people moved out and left them all locked up in the mud room. Nothing like a little breaking and entering to make your week!

[darkemeralds]

OMG, I must hear more of this story! Pictures! Followup! Let me know more. Poor abandoned kitties. That is a serious crime in my book; it pushes some very active buttons in my psyche.

It has been all animal-rescue, all the time, since I got home, and even Derby up on Shapinsay had a houseful of rescue cats and dogs--the subject has been everywhere for me in the past two weeks, and I'm paying attention.

You and I have some significant catching up to do!