Small tree climbing SRT advantages and other commentary

[moss]

Yeah this is a cat rescue but... it's all about the small/weak tree climbing. Even using a big slingshot for tiny trees. There's reasons why. Climbers often say "I use DdRT for small trees". But... SRT (SRS yeah I know) can make it possible to get up and around into the small stuff with relative comfort and safety.

Some basic Captain Hook action too, always good to see it in use. This rescue was a "force down" a good outcome in many stuck cat cases.

And a post-climb tree and gear debrief of a sort. If you actually watch it, yes that's a DMM Perfect O on my Hook wrench, I was so sick with a cold on that climb, brain mush. I edited all the disturbing coughing out ;-)

This effort was paid for by local rescue resources in the town.

-AJ

 

[Bart_]

Those unions looked to be on the verge of being rope wedgers. I presume your line pulled out ok. Your footage ought to be about the same if you were out in the spindlies in a big tree.

Who says cat's don't voice their opinion? Bet that cat was a rock tense ball of muscle when you petted it.

 

[moss]

Those unions looked to be on the verge of being rope wedgers. I presume your line pulled out ok. Your footage ought to be about the same if you were out in the spindlies in a big tree.

Who says cat's don't voice their opinion? Bet that cat was a rock tense ball of muscle when you petted it.

Sugar maple, northern red oak, and American beech can all be worse as “rope wedgers”, all depends ;-) This young big-tooth aspen despite its look was easy in, easy out for line setting.

The cat was escalating its meow whenever I touched it, I never got a firm grip on it. Didn’t feel like being chewed on that day so I went with the kitty’s self rescue.

I have grabbed more than a few cats that are super solid all muscle, can’t even get a scruff, they usually bite.
-AJ

 

[moss]

Those unions looked to be on the verge of being rope wedgers. I presume your line pulled out ok. Your footage ought to be about the same if you were out in the spindlies in a big tree.

Who says cat's don't voice their opinion? Bet that cat was a rock tense ball of muscle when you petted it.

Good call on small tree climbing, it’s the same as being on the upper and outer tops of the big trees.
-AJ

 

[surveyor]

Maybe a cloth sack or sort of duffel with open end held open by a hoop, and the rear end with a leather glove sewn into place. Then you could invert the sack as you extend your arm through the hoop, grab the cat, and pull him back inside the sack, with a draw tie to hold him inside.

 

[moss]

Maybe a cloth sack or sort of duffel with open end held open by a hoop, and the rear end with a leather glove sewn into place. Then you could invert the sack as you extend your arm through the hoop, grab the cat, and pull him back inside the sack, with a draw tie to hold him inside.

I have one minus the leather. There are pros and cons to multiple ways to make the capture. I was very sick and totally lame on my capture skills that day (all coughing was edited out). I am the most successful with the soft carrier over many hundreds of rescues, I've done various design grab bags, gloved grab bags etc. Snare sticks, etc. Every veteran cat in a tree rescuer has their favorite method for reasons valid to them.

If I scruff a cat at say 90' in a tree, or 50 or 70', whatever I've done them all, I must absolutely have a firm grip on the cat, for me personally I can only know for sure I won't drop the cat if I barehand it. I've grabbed everything that walks, crawls, swims and flies since I was kid, I have a pretty good sense of how to do it. I don't like snare sticks, a horror show when you wire loop a cat at height. You have to cinch it super tight, at least one leg though, two is better or you'll choke it out nearly instantly. It's very different than snare looping an animal on the ground. Some climbers are good at it, I only use them as last resort in certain situations.

Back to leather gloves. Even if you're using a pullover bag with a mesh or gloved bottom you still have to scruff the cat and pull it off the tree to bag it. If you have a pet cat, and it's not a total fat couch potato that will tolerate anything, put on some leather gloves, do a test scruff first, then do a hard scruff as if you were preventing the cat from falling 80' onto boulders, or a hard driveway, or a pointed wrought iron fence. Good luck!

You get my point, I'm talking to everyone, not just you Gordon as I'm sure you understand. Once you get into the practicalities of grabbing live things at height it gets very complicated. All suggestions are appreciated however.

There's all that and then there's the cat that jumps on your shoulder and head butts you purring up a storm. That was my first cat rescue 15 years ago, what an entry drug that was! I've only had two like that since. Too many act like snarling bobcats, I have been bitten and clawed severely. It is rare for me to be shredded by a cat, it's all in the handling and quickness moving the cat into the bag, carrier or whatever the method/container.

There you have it ;-)
-AJ

 

[surveyor]

You know best I am sure, especially up in a tree! We have recently adopted a stray cat which after she was used to me I picked up and headed for the cat carrier (vet bound), but after a trip half way through the house she began to struggle, and not wanting to be bit I "set" her down. Then myself, my son, and his fiancee got her surrounded in the living room. I thought the game was up. Krista stood in the rather wide passage into the living room, and as the cat bolted past me and my son, she nabbed her . I was impressed and glad she did not get bitten. What I find works well at ground level is to have the carrier on a small table with the back against a wall, then holding the cat with all the sharp bits down or forward, introduce the head of the cat to the carrier while pushing from behind with an ample belly.

 

[moss]

You know best I am sure, especially up in a tree! We have recently adopted a stray cat which after she was used to me I picked up and headed for the cat carrier (vet bound), but after a trip half way through the house she began to struggle, and not wanting to be bit I "set" her down. Then myself, my son, and his fiancee got her surrounded in the living room. I thought the game was up. Krista stood in the rather wide passage into the living room, and as the cat bolted past me and my son, she nabbed her . I was impressed and glad she did not get bitten. What I find works well at ground level is to have the carrier on a small table with the back against a wall, then holding the cat with all the sharp bits down or forward, introduce the head of the cat to the carrier while pushing from behind with an ample belly.

Yeah! My favorite method (when I had cats) was have the carrier ready door open on a raised surface (as you suggested). The cat does not know the carrier has been placed at the ready. Scoop the cat up as if you were doing a normal thing like throwing it off the bed ;-) Then what I call a baseball grip on the cat's face/head, flip it/cradle it onto its back, and push it into the carrier upside down. The scoop, face grip, inversion, push into the carrier is a smooth motion executed quickly before the cat knows what's up. Works well for cats who normally fight tooth and nail when you try to put them in a carrier. A lot of this is simply making moves on the cat a hair ahead of its reactions, blocking its vision, distracting it by putting it upside down. Just enough to stay ahead. Sometimes you just get mauled, every cat is different ;-)
-AJ

 

[ghostice]

AJ, note from the fringe maybe but really watch it with cat bites (all animal bites actually) and even deep scratches. Lots of emerg horror stories of progressive infections and stuff. I've heard of occupational cases of cat bites (the cats were hangin' around grain elevators for the mice) that have given rise to wicked infection that almost resulted in loss of a hand. Careful mate. Esp with roaming cats vs domestic house pets.
Also, clmbing skinny poplars here (or even bigger ones) gives me the heebeegeebees sometimes. Never met a poplar limb I trust fully. Trunck chokes? Have a look on YouTube at a ride down that PoplarMechanic took - he did an awesome job but ya just never know about Populus, in our neck of the woods anyway. Don't want to lose a fellow rope stitcher! Cheers.

 

[moss]

AJ, note from the fringe maybe but really watch it with cat bites (all animal bites actually) and even deep scratches. Lots of emerg horror stories of progressive infections and stuff. I've heard of occupational cases of cat bites (the cats were hangin' around grain elevators for the mice) that have given rise to wicked infection that almost resulted in loss of a hand. Careful mate. Esp with roaming cats vs domestic house pets.
Also, clmbing skinny poplars here (or even bigger ones) gives me the heebeegeebees sometimes. Never met a poplar limb I trust fully. Trunck chokes? Have a look on YouTube at a ride down that PoplarMechanic took - he did an awesome job but ya just never know about Populus, in our neck of the woods anyway. Don't want to lose a fellow rope stitcher! Cheers.

I'm highly skilled at self treatment of cat bites and scratches. Life experience, I'm 68 years-old, you know the drill. I know when a bite or scratch is serious enough to require an Urgent Care visit. I've been seriously shredded a handful (pun not intended) of times in many hundreds of rescues. I've gotten very good at not having that happen. I'm not overconfident, just realistic through experience. It will happen again.

Main rules for anyone grabbing a cat in a tree by whatever method... If you are bitten or scratched in any way, attend to it immediately after the rescue with solid first aid technique. Do honest self-assessment. Go immediately to Urgent Care no matter what the expense if your HONEST self-assessment says, "This is above my pay grade", seek professional care or whatever passes for it in your area.

The bad systemic infections often requiring hospitalizations are the result of toughing it out and blowing off doing the right thing immediately post rescue!

Rabies is another discussion, not covering it here.

It is hilarious though, I've only done two Urgent Care visits in however many years I've been doing this. The first time was amazing, the treatment was perfection. The second time the doc knew the basic principles of treating deep and plentiful cat bites and scratches, but obviously had very little practical experience. I had to coach them without making them think I was disrespecting them ;-) "Well actually, do you have a deeper basin for my both hands betadine soak? These little betadine packets are not enough, do you have bottles?" "Umm... I really appreciate you dabbing at the wounds with a big Q-tip, do you have a small scrubbing brush? Thank you."

There is a lot of followup self-treatment for cat bites and scratches that can last a week or more, whether there was an Urgent Care visit or not. It is tapering depending on ongoing assessment of wound sites but necessary to avoid infection at the sites or obviously to prevent increasing inflammation beyond the wound sites and the systemic and very dangerous infection that will take you down fast.

Basically, if a cat goes bonkers on you and starts shredding your face or other highly vulnerable parts of your body you've already done something tremendously wrong trying to capture the cat. Shed the cat immediately, I don't care how high up you are.

Never carry a cat down in your lap or arms. Yes, for super super couch potato mellow cats it will work. But you don't actually know, no reason to take a chance. I've only taken "unbagged" cats down 3x. My first rescue, very low capture location, cat is head-butting me and purring etc. I was lucky without knowing it. Another was a very bony elderly cat with a lot of arthritis. Made an incredible desperation coyote escape climb to height in a white pine. "Buddy! I will not disrespect you by putting you in a bag! You're f'ing amazing how the hell did you get up here?". He was tapping out. Lap ride down, he was not moving in my lap. He did fine after he was in the house warmed up, fed and watered.

Yeah mon! Populus genus trees... I've been in a lot of them, all the native species in New England and the "exotics", crappy failing nursery origin trees etc. Always with respect and care for their poor structural qualities.

End of Professor Moss' lecture, there will be a test, be prepared!

Thanks for the backup and support @ghostice !

Just for grins, this is a fairly old for the species off the grid Big-tooth aspen rec climb, what a great tree! Not tree work, no limb walking because of the Populus genus and no need to. Ropes set at unions of good diameter stuff and trunk/bole proximity climbing only. This was after my very serious top-to-bottom and root zone assessment, then binocular inspection, then lead climb on a super chunk solid middle crown limb to do further up-close crown assessment. The porcupine encounter was after all that and I was advancing into the upper part of the overall high crown (not open grown tree). Look at that trunk flare/buttresses at the base! Very atypical big-tooth aspen.

-AJ

 

[ghostice]

AJ, your treatment synopsis is worthy of Grand Rounds buddy!
I chuckled about the Dr coaching tho - we had a young GP years back that I visited for a melanoma sampling exercise on my leg. Nothing big, just take a little slice, stick in vial for the path dudes and a couple of stitches and Band Aide. I asked if I could just sit up and watch while he did the cutting. Well that did it, his hand was shaking so much, I thought it'd look like a Singer Zig-Zag stitch by the time he was done. Eventually he did get there but boy oh boy did I ever pine for the days of my old GP who'd retired. Which reminds me of my mother - who was an RN nursing supervisor for years in a teaching hospital. She told stories of nursing staff who, for some surgeons, would felt pen "Not This Leg, The Other One, Now Go Away" on the good leg when patients went in for knee surgery. Makes ya wonder.
Again about poplar - see: Poplar Mechanic (up here in Medicine Hat AB) starting about 7:20 on the video
Yikes
On another matter, still using some hand stitched lanyard spliced terminations that're going strong now for two years. Not moved an iota.
Cheers from the Great White North

 

[Matias]

Awesomeness on all accounts, love it and laughing!

Off-topic in tree work video forum to the max:

Some of my docs love me and some are sooo confused. I'm a Type 1 diabetic. Because of healthcare system and insurance craziness I seem to change endocrinologists every couple of years. I've broken in so many of them diabetes docs. Basically they want to fit me into a kind of "best practices" flow chart treatment modality designed for couch potato 60+ year-old men. No shade on them, their management/business side forces them to. So as my latest doc tries to start from scratch and force feed me into the system (bless their heart) I'm stopping them, "Ok, I'm a professional tree climber, I work very hard and climb hard. You know about the GLUT 4 Pathway (or GLUT 4 Transporter) right?" Blank look and nearly stuttering from the doc. "Umm..." Looking at their screen on their desk, takes glasses off, long pause, looks back at me. "Well, ah, yes!". "Oh good, of course! Yeah, rapid (relatively) muscle uptake of blood glucose to store glucose as glycogen to power major muscle groups". Doc: "Umm, yes?". Me: "So I can't be pinned down with a predicted insulin dose to regulate blood glucose, it can vary widely, extremely and dangerously due to variable muscle loading per day per week etc" Bam, still confused, it will take 2-3 more visits to break them in. I won't go further into my medical history but insulin pumps paired with CGM's Continuous Glucose Monitors are very problematic for my physiology and medical profile. This journey is a continuous work in progress. 'Nuff said, thanks again @ghostice

PS: I've had some great endocrinologists, they are harder to find these days.
-AJ

Wow man. Just, wow.

 

[southsoundtree]

Sugar maple, northern red oak, and American beech can all be worse as “rope wedgers”, all depends ;-) This young big-tooth aspen despite its look was easy in, easy out for line setting.

The cat was escalating its meow whenever I touched it, I never got a firm grip on it. Didn’t feel like being chewed on that day so I went with the kitty’s self rescue.

I have grabbed more than a few cats that are super solid all muscle, can’t even get a scruff, they usually bite.
-AJ

Every try a cat carrier that they can climb into, specifically the cats' own carriers?

 

[moss]

Every try a cat carrier that they can climb into, specifically the cats' own carriers?

I get many cats to climb into my soft carrier, but don't ask to use their carriers, condition and functionality is so different brand to brand, carrier to carrier. Most cats hate going into their own carriers. I can't tell you how many times a cat owner has yelled from the ground "How did you do that? I can't get him (or her) into it's own carrier!" There is some possibility that a cat will go into its own carrier, but in the hazy fog of cat rescue, I prefer mine, it's predictable, and has a cat life support tether sling on it. I I've tried fancier high quality soft carriers.

This cat 's owner was unknown so no possibilities anyway, and clearly it didn't want to go into my carrier.
-AJ

 

[Bart_]

That poplar mechanic video is like a bad dream crossed with a testimonial to redundantly being tied in. Yikes is right! Liked the he left the vertical stub for balancing via his lanyard. Sorry for the side-rail Moss.

 

[moss]

That poplar mechanic video is like a bad dream crossed with a testimonial to redundantly being tied in. Yikes is right! Liked the he left the vertical stub for balancing via his lanyard. Sorry for the side-rail Moss.

Side-rail away!

 

[Daniel]

I'm highly skilled at self treatment of cat bites and scratches. Life experience, I'm 68 years-old, you know the drill. I know when a bite or scratch is serious enough to require an Urgent Care visit. I've been seriously shredded a handful (pun not intended) of times in many hundreds of rescues. I've gotten very good at not having that happen. I'm not overconfident, just realistic through experience. It will happen again.

Main rules for anyone grabbing a cat in a tree by whatever method... If you are bitten or scratched in any way, attend to it immediately after the rescue with solid first aid technique. Do honest self-assessment. Go immediately to Urgent Care no matter what the expense if your HONEST self-assessment says, "This is above my pay grade", seek professional care or whatever passes for it in your area.

The bad systemic infections often requiring hospitalizations are the result of toughing it out and blowing off doing the right thing immediately post rescue!

Rabies is another discussion, not covering it here.

It is hilarious though, I've only done two Urgent Care visits in however many years I've been doing this. The first time was amazing, the treatment was perfection. The second time the doc knew the basic principles of treating deep and plentiful cat bites and scratches, but obviously had very little practical experience. I had to coach them without making them think I was disrespecting them ;-) "Well actually, do you have a deeper basin for my both hands betadine soak? These little betadine packets are not enough, do you have bottles?" "Umm... I really appreciate you dabbing at the wounds with a big Q-tip, do you have a small scrubbing brush? Thank you."

There is a lot of followup self-treatment for cat bites and scratches that can last a week or more, whether there was an Urgent Care visit or not. It is tapering depending on ongoing assessment of wound sites but necessary to avoid infection at the sites or obviously to prevent increasing inflammation beyond the wound sites and the systemic and very dangerous infection that will take you down fast.

Basically, if a cat goes bonkers on you and starts shredding your face or other highly vulnerable parts of your body you've already done something tremendously wrong trying to capture the cat. Shed the cat immediately, I don't care how high up you are.

Never carry a cat down in your lap or arms. Yes, for super super couch potato mellow cats it will work. But you don't actually know, no reason to take a chance. I've only taken "unbagged" cats down 3x. My first rescue, very low capture location, cat is head-butting me and purring etc. I was lucky without knowing it. Another was a very bony elderly cat with a lot of arthritis. Made an incredible desperation coyote escape climb to height in a white pine. "Buddy! I will not disrespect you by putting you in a bag! You're f'ing amazing how the hell did you get up here?". He was tapping out. Lap ride down, he was not moving in my lap. He did fine after he was in the house warmed up, fed and watered.

Yeah mon! Populus genus trees... I've been in a lot of them, all the native species in New England and the "exotics", crappy failing nursery origin trees etc. Always with respect and care for their poor structural qualities.

End of Professor Moss' lecture, there will be a test, be prepared!

Thanks for the backup and support @ghostice !

Just for grins, this is a fairly old for the species off the grid Big-tooth aspen rec climb, what a great tree! Not tree work, no limb walking because of the Populus genus and no need to. Ropes set at unions of good diameter stuff and trunk/bole proximity climbing only. This was after my very serious top-to-bottom and root zone assessment, then binocular inspection, then lead climb on a super chunk solid middle crown limb to do further up-close crown assessment. The porcupine encounter was after all that and I was advancing into the upper part of the overall high crown (not open grown tree). Look at that trunk flare/buttresses at the base! Very atypical big-tooth aspen.

-AJ

While part of me admires you for going after the cats, the other part thinks you're crazy for taking the risks... I don;t know much about the first aid treatment, and there's a reason for that... because I don't need to. If I didn't put the cat in the tree, I don't have to get him out.

I only ever tried a cat rescue once and found out two things.

1) the cat didn't want to be rescued
2) the cat was a much better climber than me.

so I took and early retirement.

I heard cat's can fall long distances and survive. sounds strange but there are middle distances that are more deady. I;m guessing becasue they are still accelerating when they hit...