Man Climbs 60 Feet to Save Cat Stuck in a Tree for Five Days

Harrisonburg, Virginia entrepreneur Daniel Miller has spent the last several years of his life making a living from climbing trees, but he never quite expected to be called to save a cat that was stuck in a tree and couldn’t get down on its own. However, that is precisely what happened when he returned home from a business meeting to receive a text from a friend saying that a cat had been stuck in a tree locally for more than five days.

Setting the Scene

As it turns out, that cat had gone up into the tree almost a week prior to Miller receiving the notification. It did some major climbing, too. By the time it was all said and done, the cat was more than 60 feet up in the tree. Some people claimed that it was almost 100 feet up. At any rate, First Responders had been called to the scene. They made every attempt they could to rescue the cat, but due to the terrain and the inherent challenges associated with climbing to great heights in a forested area, they simply couldn’t get to the cat. Animal rescue organizations were on the scene as well, and it seemed like all hope might be lost, at least for a while. The cat had been up there for so long that animal experts were worried that it was simply too weak to get down on its own. The weather had been crazy during that time as well. It had been both exceptionally hot and exceptionally cold. The area had also experienced severe storms the night before. Apparently, the poor cat had been stuck at least 60 feet up in the tree the entire time. Some people were amazed that it was still alive. Obviously, no one knew exactly what type of physical condition the cat was in, especially since no one could get anywhere near it. This is where Miller came in.

Why Do Cats Climb Trees in the First Place?

You might be asking yourself why cats tend to climb trees to begin with. As it turns out, they do it because they are predators by their very nature. They like to be able to get high up above the rest of their environment so they can see everything at once. Have you ever seen a hawk land on something that’s relatively tall and then gaze intently at the ground in all directions? They are looking for prey like mice and other small animals. It’s exactly the same thing with a cat. The only difference is, the cat obviously doesn’t have wings so it has no choice but to climb up on top of something in order to see what is going on around it. Cats naturally have a tendency to climb. This is why you see cats climbing all over everything, even when they live almost exclusively inside of a house. When they’re out and about in nature, they will climb on tops of buildings, trees and anything else they can find because they are simply hardwired to do so.

Why Do Some Cats Get Stuck When They Climb Trees?

The truth is, cats have a tendency to get stuck in trees all the time. Experts in animal health say that it’s because cats don’t routinely back down from high surfaces. In fact, according to most animal experts, this movement is completely unnatural. As a result, most cats have a tendency to jump down from wherever they have managed to find themselves. When they get so high up that they can no longer safely jump, they might become scared. They don’t know how to get down and even if they could back down, they may be too afraid to do so. That was probably the case here. The cat ended up 60 feet up in a tree before it realized what it was doing. By then, it was far too high up to jump down and it either couldn’t or wouldn’t back down.

A Complicated Rescue

Getting back to the rescue of this particular cat, Miller recounts how difficult it really was. He had managed to get himself all the way up to where the cat was, but as he was trying to get the cat from the particular limb it was perched on, the limb snapped and went tumbling. The cat went with it and ended up in another tree, still far too high for it to jump down. That’s right, Miller then had to descend from the tree that he had already climbed, walk over to a neighboring tree and climb it in order to get to the cat. As you can imagine, he was now dealing with a cat that was extremely stressed and wasn’t exactly welcoming of anyone that was trying to come near it. Despite all of these challenges, he did finally manage to get the cat down and put it into the arms of rescuers so that it could be taken to a veterinarian. It was a long and arduous rescue, but one that Miller says was well worth the effort.

Surprisingly enough, the cat was given a clean bill of health after being taken to a veterinarian. Understandably, many people were very worried about its health. It had been up there for so long without food or water and had endured some truly harsh weather. Despite all of these issues and being slung from one tree to another, the cat seemed to defy the odds. Other than being a little shook up, it was really no worse for wear. That said, it will only be a matter of time until everyone has the opportunity to see whether or not this experience has cured the cat’s desire to climb trees.

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