A Funny Story...

So my mom is really obsessed with my kitty Tiger.. even though he is my cat, she's crazy about him. And she is really protective over him and never even allows him outdoors even though he is a cat and loves it outside. Well whenever I go over to visit and she's gone at work or somewhere else, I always let my cat outside. I think she thinks the cat is an idiot and won't know how to get back home or will get hurt somewhere, which neither has ever happened so I don't know why she worries. She just can't bear the thought of ever losing him I guess.

Ok, so my point to all this.. Well today I let my cat out as usual. I was visiting over the house with my dog, and my sister came by with her dog and we were going to go to the dog park. Well my dog is pretty calm and laid back and my sister's dog is really neurotic and high-strung and has hunting in his blood. So my sister pulls up, her dog sees the cat, and breaks free from the leash and took charge after poor Tiger. Tiger is freaked out beyond anything, bolts for his life, and goes right up a tree in the backyard. This is not just any tree, its one of those really tall palm trees. He was pretty darn high up there.

We put the dogs away and look up at Tiger, call him and trying to coax him back down. He refuses. Even after two hours, he doesn't budge. At this point, I'm thinking he is too scared to come down and not because of the dog since it had been so long, but just because he is afraid he'll hurt himself or something. He was just way too high.

My mom usually comes home on her lunch break around 12:45. When it was about 11:20 I started to panick. Do you realize what my mother is capable of over that cat? She would chop my head off, literally, if she came home to that scene. And it's not like I can just take her mind away from it or avoid the situation at all. The first thing she would ask when walking through that door would be where the cat was. I wish I was exaggerating even a little bit. That cat is her world.

Anyway, so it's 11:20, the cat was still up in the tree. I have tried everything at this point: ladder, way too short; a hose, still wouldn't budge even though I was spraying water at him. So my only option left was to call either animal control or the fire department. I called animal control and they said they didn't have the tools for that kind of situation. Ok. So then I called the non-emergency fire department and they acted as if that kind of call was an everyday occasion. So no more than 10 minutes later, they showed up. We all shared a good laugh as we observed the little cat in the tree. One of the guys even took a snapshot (for the website, he said. Which I should really check that!). Another one of them grabbed their tallest ladder and set to work.

They got him down but as soon as he landed he took off. The fire department left and then I proceded to find my cat. I was running out of time. I eventually found him in the neighbor's yard and snatched him up and took him home. Then I cleaned him and dried him off.

My mom never suspected a thing. And she never found out. Maybe in like 10 years I will tell her this story and get a good laugh at it. I wonder what she would say?!