Hey Devildog, you made the front page

starlet, I agree with you. Thats why I said "time and place for everything". But you are right man I cant stand cats! Still doesnt take the value of it away from the owner.
 
Some cats are stupid, some aren't... has nothing to do with being treed or staying in the tree.

This is a tired argument that completely overlooks the fact that while cats CAN climb, they are not remotely arboreal. Going into a tree is a last resort... they don't contemplate whether they can get back down. Nor do they need food and water everyday, they evolved to go long periods between meals and don't sweat so they don't lose water and minerals to condensation the way humans do.

Cat's have to go backward to downclimb a tree because of the hooked shaped claws. There is research (unrelated to treed cats) indicating that many cats can't back up on their own. You can force them but they fight it the whole way. Lots of cats go backward just fine but the ones that don't, can't downclimb a tree. Does that make them stupid? Maybe, but I doubt it, the more obvious answer is that they evolved that way for some long lost reason.

If you smack a cat with a swinging throwball you could injure it or knock it out of the tree... I've come close several times. But I'm thinking you blow the payoff and any goodwill the potential customer has when you do that. I've gotten lots of tree business from cat rescue customers and their neighbors.

Spikes don't kill trees 100% of the time, probably no where close. So it becomes a tradeoff and the only person who can make the call is an informed customer. You tell'em that you'll have to spike because roping is too dangerous either for the climber or the cat and you tell'em what spikes do to trees. They make the choice.

The tree with Rodney in it looks easy to get a rope into but no way to really tell without being there.
 
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I've been after many a treed feline in my day, Many a home owner think of thier pets more as children than pets. As for a happy costumer, when a customer is satisfied they will, on average, tell about 4 people, if they are not they will tell around 10. Simple math! As for spikes in live trees, it is the Arborist responsibility to educate the public.
 
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they are not remotely arboreal. Going into a tree is a last resort...

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I have two cats, they climb in the bur oak in our yard almost every day.

they are outside cats and aren't stupid like many peoples spoiled stupid lazy peices of crap.

honestly, they sprint up the oak tree and tease each other, go out limbwalking, come down backwards and leap to the ground.

they do it for fun.

just thought I had to react to that part of your statement.

and if you dumb azzes can't throw a throw ball without hitting a cat, put up a ladder and climb limb to limb with your lanyards.

actually come to think of it, every cat rescue I've done, (maybe 5 now), I've not used a throw bag, I just climbed the tree, lanyard and climbing line. I gotz pictures to prove.
 
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Nor do they need food and water everyday, they evolved to go long periods between meals and don't sweat so they don't lose water and minerals to condensation the way humans do.


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I'll have to disagree with this.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_hepatic_lipidosis.html

check this out about feline hepatic lipidosis. My vet said that cats are supposed to eat daily and can have problems if they don't. I think that cats are used to fluid intake through food and drinking regularly/ daily, as well.
 
I did a cat rescue today, as it happens.



Seems that most of the time its possible to at least get a rope over a small branch and the trunk. From there, most of the time, you can send up a running bowline and SRT to the cat.



A time and place for everything, I suppose, but most of the time spikes are not necessary. I did have to race daylight one day for a cat rescue. As I was descending, I saw the owl that the homeowner spotted. I guess that I ruined the owl's dinner. The cat would have likely survived a night in the tree were it not for predators, but the predators like the sound of a stuck cat.
 
Sean and X, I'm talking in evolutionary terms... survival, not play. My cat fetches balls of paper, climbs like a demon and I doubt seriously if she'd ever stay stuck in a tree. But things like that are a result of domestication. Cats are not built to live in trees, they are ground animals.
I don't doubt that a vet would recommend cats eating every day, her business is health, not survival... but they live and remain healthy a long time without food or water... didn't you ever watch Wild Kingdom?

I bagged my 50th cat about a month ago and all this climbing and fetching made me want to know why. I'm not willing to buy that it's just because they're stupid. I got one down that lived in a willow oak for 26 days... 100% outside cat, it was her third time being stuck in that particular tree. The owners have more cats than I can count, at least 20 and none of them get stuck. I got another down that was up for between 17 and 20 days. What would keep an animal away from food for THAT long? Surely the desire to eat had to supersede stupidity at some point.

I'm not saying this to make a point, I really want to know why some cats get stuck and other don't.

There was a research on human autism that somehow involved studying autistic behavior in cats. From that, they learned a significant portion of the test subjects (the cats) could not walk backwards. No reverse gear, no way get down a trunk safely. The owners of Dora, the 26 day cat have been watching her and even called me to say they don't think she's ever walked backward. My cat has no trouble backing up. I've been tempted to test the ones I get down but I usually just hand the bag over to the owner so they can get the cat inside.
Another thing, how many of you have had a cat jump or run down the trunk once you started to work? For me, two. Both ran down the trunk head first rather than the usual backing down. I've seen cats do that lots of times down low but I'm talking 50'+ of vertical trunk.

I won't deny that some cats are dumb as a stump. But the idea that they won't save their own lives because they're stupid is a cop out, there's more to it.

As for spikes, some trees you can't climb safely any other way, cats don't always pick the right ones... maybe that's the stupid part.
 
I'm not sure I'd want to pitch a throw line into the air off that cliff.

It's like bidding jobs from a picture, you just can't do it, but there's always the ones who will try.
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Given the circumstances I'm sure Mike's bro's/employees made their decision wisely, and saved a cat too boot!
 
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