that poor cat.

[crschmidt]

moose got outside. moose had a tussle with the local dog (in-law apartment owns said dog). moose escaped up tree. yay moose.

moose could not get down from tree. fire department said "You think we're doing *what* with a pissed off cat?" and apologized as they went away.

i climb tree. 35ish feet up. (I was roof level of our house.) i attempt to retrieve moose. I suffer one scratch/bite fest. I survive, and resolve to get moose if it kills me.

It did. after a second round, i decide that being in a tree, 35 feet up, with a hand that has 3 puncture wounds through the wrist and is rapidly becoming numb, it's time to give up. The cat is scared to death and I just can't do anything anymore. I made it down -- barely. I was feeling nausea and almost puked when rinsing the blood off my hand. It hurt. a lot.

I go to the ER to get it looked at. (Antibiotics and antiseptic wash.) Kristan, emmy, jenn stay home. Moose eventually falls out of tree. the poor guy hit a tree branch, and a fence, before hitting the ground. I can't imagine how much that must have scared everyone watching.

I'm so sorry he's hurt. He's at angell: overnight stay. radiology in the morning: too hyper for it tonight, they'll have to sedate him. He was in shock when they brought him in. He's stable, but not in good shape.

That poor cat.

I really want to kill the dog. I know that moose was not supposed to be outside, but that dog... sigh.

Had I been 15 seconds faster, i could have gotten the dog away from moose. (Who did a kickass job defending his turf.)

Had I been thinking enough to bring the cat carrier with me, I might have been able to get him out.

So many things i might hahve done.

my right hand is mostly unusable -- or at least, its slightly usable, with pain.

I'm behind on work and have a 2pm job interview with OASIS tomorrow.

That poor cat. That poor fucking cat.

Comments

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

Oh dear! I'm so sorry!

Poor Moose, but also poor you!! Take care of that hand. And good luck to the cat.

[telepwen.livejournal.com]

I direct you to the reply I just left Jess.

[alacrity.livejournal.com]

The fire department did WHAT? Assholes. They have gloves, don't they?

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

the biggest problem is that there was no stable way to get up there. The only thing near enough to reach was the tree, and it was pretty thin: If they stuck a ground ladder up there, and the cat flips and bounces off the person (he's a 15 pound cat) then the ladder tips.... you've got one seriously fucked up fireman.

Animal Rescue League basically said "we can't do it tonight, they usually come down within a couple hours once they realize they have to go down back legs first." (This was around 7) Of course, that would have been too late, regardless of my treeclimbing antics. So I can't feel too bad for that at least.

THere's so many things that could have gone better -- but at the same time, there's things (like landing on his back) that could have gone worse. So, jusut counting what blessings there are.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

Awww! Poor Moose AND poor Chris!

If it ever happens again, bring a rope and a pillowcase. Not fun, but they're more portable than a hard carrier, and you can put the cat in the pillowcase and tie the rope very tightly around the opening (er... whole cat inside-- rope is not around his neck, obviously) and lower him out of the tree. It's not *fun*, but it'll get the job done if you do it quick. This of course requires you to be able to grab the scruff of his neck enough to get the pillowcase around him, which may also have been unfeasible.

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

The attempt at scruffing was what got me the puncture wounds on the wrist, unfortunately. I had him by the scruff, but somehow he was able to turn his head around 180 degrees and sink in.

I am very lucky that I had stable foot position, because I definitely was not thinking about holding onto the tree right at that moment.

[robnorth.livejournal.com]

I hate to sound horribly unsympathetic ... but those who've Been There Done That (including most firefighters) will tell you that the single best thing to do with a cat up a tree or pole or whatever is Leave It Alone.

Any human going up there is taking a risk. You're lucky you only got cat bites and claws and scratches. If you'd been the one falling out of the tree ... well, let's not go there, shall we?

Also, moose probably wouldn't have jumped or fallen if he hadn't been freaked out by the rescue attempt.

Standard advice is to, at most, put a bowl of milk or food somewhere where he might see or smell it, and in a place that's "familiar" (windowsill, convenient ledge, whatever). Then, as difficult as it is to do, wait. And wait. And wait. Might be hours, might be days, might be a week or so. Eventually, it'll come down on its own terms, and with a much greater likelihood of making it down in one piece.

Sigh. What a day you poor folks had. If I could ftp chocolate chip cookies over (cctp?) to y'all, I'd do it.

[acerbic.livejournal.com]

Leaving him up there wasn't really an option in a 38 degree temperature which was going down as the night wore on.

Of course, if I had any idea Chris was planning on climbing the tree to try to get him, I would've shot him. But.

He fell like hours later. He wanted out, he didn't know how, he was in a bad spot. *shrugs*

[pezstar.livejournal.com]

The cat was at the top of a tree. The branches up there aren't very big... he was literally hanging on by his claws, and had been since he got up there. He absolutely would have fallen out of the tree, regardless of whether someone attempted to rescue him or not.

There is absolutely no way that he was going to be permitted to stay in a tree, in below freezing temperatures, overnight. From the position that he had managed to get himself into (Moose was not upright) while searching for his own way down, he absolutely needed to be rescued, and I thank Chris for the attempt.

We attempted to rig up a pulley system with the cat carrier and a rope, but moose fell about a minute before we were going to throw the rope up.