Missing Kitty 101: Look in the Trees

A few weeks ago, my cat Mila went missing. I’ve had her for the majority of her life, which has been around three years, so you can imagine that I was not only devastated by simply the idea of losing her but also by the fact that it would’ve been so early in her life. Mila and I live in a one bedroom duplex and I normally let her outside to play every day. There is no fence enclosing my duplex so she is free to roam where she pleases, but she usually never goes far. The weekend that she went missing was the weekend following Hurricane Patricia in Mexico, and I live in San Marcos Texas, so we were hit pretty hard that weekend with what remained of Patricia.

Mila went missing on a Saturday; the storm had yet to come when I first let her out, but around 2 p.m. it suddenly began to pour while she was outside. I ran outside to find her and bring her back in, but could not find her anywhere. Luckily the rain died out within less than five minutes and I immediately went back outside to retrieve her. But she was nowhere to be found. I didn’t give up my search until I went to bed that night; I went up and down the street, knocked on all my neighbor’s doors, and searched the street that ran parallel to mine, but I had no luck. Searching for her on that first day was, albeit stressful, easy because the weather remained calm for the remainder of the day. However, the leftovers from hurricane Patricia began to roll into San Marcos that night, which would spell a sleepless night for me.

I tossed and turned that night, agonizing over Mila’s safety as the rain poured. By daytime it was still raining and despite being exhausted from a lack of sleep, my anxiety had reached its peak. I don’t know if any of you witnessed the flooding in central Texas that was broadcasted on the news that weekend, but it was severe. I don’t want to compare my experience to those who lost their homes and all their belongings, but I can’t deny that I was in an awful place emotionally. The timing of Mila’s disappearance could not have been worse and I couldn’t stop worrying that she was in danger. However, as many of you are probably assuming, I wouldn’t be telling this story if it didn’t have a happy ending.

I found Mila the day after she went missing at noon in the highest branch of a tall tree right next to my duplex. Despite her inconvenient location, I was beside myself with joy from at least the knowing that she was unharmed. She did, however, need rescuing from the tree. When I found her the storm had still yet to subside and she would not come down, I assume because the tree was slippery and she was frightened by the heavy winds and rain that were jarring her around. I tried calling the fire department but they refused to help; they told me that they no longer responded to those calls as cats usually come down by themselves. This was a unique situation though, and I did not foresee her coming down on her own anytime soon. I was beginning to worry about her health; it was cold and I could see that she was soaking wet. After about an hour of trying to brainstorm ideas and coax her down with food, my friend suggested that I get on craigslist and look up a landscaping or tree trimming company. This proved to be exactly what I needed.

I found the contact information of two small companies in town, and after contacting them and alerting them of my situation, a man from one of them arrived to my apartment within about thirty minutes. He saw where Mila was and asserted that she needed to be rescued immediately due to the weather conditions. Within about twenty minutes he had scaled the tree and gotten her down.

One of the reasons I chose to share this story was so that it might provide helpful insight for those who find themselves in a similar situation. I am aware that all cats have different personalities and might not act the same way that Mila did in this situation. However, I encourage anyone whose cat goes missing during a storm to look in the trees. I feel that Mila specifically chose to take shelter in a high place because she knew the ground would be dangerous.

In addition, if you do find your cat to be in a place that you can’t reach, it would not hurt to try the fire department, but you might get the same response as me. In this case, try getting on Google or craigslist to search for companies in your area that do landscaping or tree trimming. The reason this worked out so beautifully for me was because the man who responded to my call had the equipment to climb a tree and was an agile climber, as his trade required it. If you reach out to a company that would be likely to have a cherry picker or other useful equipment for getting up in high places and let them know that you have an emergency, hopefully you will receive the same help that I did. I had to pay the company seventy dollars for their time, but to me this was a very small price to pay to get my baby back.

Has your cat ever gone missing? Where did you find him or her? Leave a comment and share your story with us!