Solano County neighbors rally to rescue cat stuck in tree for 5 days: "We had to get creative"
VACAVILLE -- A cat stuck high up in a tree for more than five days is back on solid ground thanks to a community effort to get him down.
The desperate animal could be heard crying out for help in a tall tree standing more than 30 feet above a Vacaville apartment complex along Alamo Drive and Peabody Road.
"He'd been up in that tree for five days. We were out here every day trying to help him," neighbor Rhonda Rohde said.
Rohde said that she has been feeding the cat and his feral colony since he was just a kitten and nick-named the solid white cat "Whitey."
"I've just been feeding them. That's about it. Keeping an eye on them. Trying to keep them out of mischief but that's not working very well!" said Rohde.
Rohde says the cat was recently hurt by a dog in their apartment community and suffered injuries to its back legs. He then was chased by another dog up the tree where he was stuck for days with no food or water, clinging to the branches more than 30 feet high.
His desperate cries were impossible for neighbors to ignore.
"Oh it was bloody murder, the cat was crying its eyes out. It was hard. It was emotionally hard to listen to it and not be able to help," Rohde said.
Neighbors tried to reach the cat with a ladder to no avail. An arborist even climbed the tree, but the cat was just out of his grasp.
Fearing the worst, neighbor Desiree Richardson posted about the situation in a Solano County Facebook group. The post now has nearly 1,000 comments — many were suggestions and offers to help.
"We've been trying to get him down all week with no luck. We tried animal control, the fire department, the police and no one has been able to help," Richardson said.
That's when local business owner Aaron Cradduck saw Richardson's post and pitched in to help rescue the cat Thursday morning.
"We had to get a little creative," Craddock said. "In my bucket truck, we ended up with an extension pole with a fish net taped to the end of it. [We] were able to get the cat into the bucket and back down here safely."
Craddock owns Solano Signs, a Fairfield company that installs signs for people's businesses.
"It felt right," he said.
"Just felt like the right thing to do?" I asked.
"Yeah. We have the equipment. Why not?" Craddock responded.
Neighbors are now calling him their hero.
"The feeling of relief when he finally was able to net the cat was just overwhelming. The next step was we got the cat down, now what?" Richardson asked.
Richardson took the cat to the emergency vet in Solano County where it received care Thursday and was released to her later that night.
"He is severely dehydrated but other than that we are hopeful he is going to make a full recovery," Richardson said.
Richardson said she would foster the cat as he heals and get him accustomed to being around people. She hopes to find him a forever home after he has made a full recovery.
"I just hope someone else will see this and also be led to help the next person or next animal should it be," she said.
She is grateful for a Solano County community that stepped up to get this cat down to solid ground.
"At the end of the day, it's a life. A life saved. You can't put a price on that," Richardson said.
Neither Richardson nor Cradduck wish to accept any donations from the community for their contributions to helping the animal.