By Ashley Baldwin of Capital Federal, Argentina

Last May our beloved four-year-old boy cat, Pitolin, jumped down from our roof terrace for an epic adventure and didn’t come home. We covered the neighborhood in posters, leafletted houses and apartment buildings in the surrounding streets, contacted local vets, shelters and pounded the streets looking for him day and night for more than two months.

One day, towards the end of June, I was on my way to a work-related congress when I got a phone call from the friend of a friend of mine, saying that she had spotted a similar-looking cat living in a tree about 50 blocks away from where I live. She’d tried to get him down the evening before with a ladder as we’d had storms and torrential rain, but the cat was terrified and refused to come down to the lower branches. She wondered if it might be Pitolin.

I doubted it. There is no way he would’ve ventured 50 blocks away, across numerous busy roads. And the phone calls about cats that turned out not to be him had started to get me down.

I Couldn’t Stop Thinking of the Cat in the Tree

Needless to say, I was unable to get the cat in the tree out of my head for the entire 8 hour congress. When I arrived home, I talked it over with my husband and we decided to put our minds at ease and check it out.

The tree in question was right outside a restaurant, sandwiched between one of the city’s busiest roads and a polo field. There was no way that a cat could’ve got there himself. He must’ve been dumped!

Upon seeing my husband, the cat leaped down the trunk, raced up to him meowing and, when my husband sat down to stroke his ears, he leapt onto his lap and started purring. The restaurant security guards had been feeding him kibble when they could but the little thing was emaciated, filthy and wet. We weren’t ready to take in another animal yet, but we scooped him up, took him to the vet and decided to let him stay at our home until a permanent family could be found. All the way home, I worried that we’d made the right decision and wondered if we weren’t trying to “replace” Pitolin. That night, we had torrential rain and storms that lasted for three days. I know I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself knowing that the little cat was still living in a tree and not sleeping under my bed.

Four months later, and Edward (named for his striking resemblence to Johnny Depp’s character in Edward Scissorhands) is a permanent and loved member of our family. We had some initial stomach problems to get over (which are now being controlled with a special diet), as well as ear fungus, fleas and worms…but he’s fixed, fatter and doing really well. The vet estimates him to be around 2 years old.

Not A Day Goes By…

There’s not a day goes by when we don’t miss Pitolin…and thanks to our network of animal-loving neighbours, we’re all still on the look out. But if anything good has come out of that terrible situation, it is our wonderful, chubby, paper-ball loving Edward tree cat!  See More Adorable Photos

Since losing Pitolin, we’re now in contact with a wide network of animal protectionists in the city and regularly donate towards the veterinary care of animals in need. When we are eventually able to move to a larger apartment, we intend to take in another needy animal and would urge anyone that has any spare space and love to give, to consider adopting a stray animal, rather than buying from a breeder.

Have You Ever?

Have you ever saved a cat stuck in a tree?  Helped an injured bird?  Rescued a lost dog?  We’d love to hear your rescue stories.  Join in The Great Animal Rescue Chase tournament to save one million.  You never know who you might inspire!

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