When Ian Patella’s cat got stuck in a tree late last week, his family’s local contractor came to the rescue.
But as it turned out, he’d need a bit of help himself.
Patella’s family cat, Zeke, found himself stuck in a tree at their Leominster, Mass., home for two grueling days.
The Patella family waited for a while, but Zeke refused to come down.
“(Ian) just sat and sobbed,” Patella’s mother, Jill, explained to 7 News Boston. “It’s hard, your pets are a part of your family.”
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She decided to call on the help of their contractor, James Brennan.
“We waited for him to come down,” Jill said. “Nothing was happening, so our contractor came this morning and said, ‘I’m going to get him out.'”
“I knew he had the ladder so I called him and (said), ‘Can you come with your tallest ladder?’ And he did,” she told Boston 25 News.
On Sunday, Brennan climbed up to save the feline, only to get caught in some branches as the cat climbed further away from him.
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“I got up 60 feet or so… and my belt got caught up,” he told the broadcast station. “I was kind of hung up in the tree.”
The Patella family had to call for back up … Again.
Fire and rescue crews assembled to help Brennan out of his sticky situation, bringing the cat down along with him.
The team included the Forestry Department, which cleared away branches to make for easier rescue.
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“We’ve seen it before, people up in the trees, but it’s a rare call for us,” Deputy Chief Scott Cordio explained. “It’s easy to go up. Coming down is not as easy.”
Brennan said he was admittedly a bit embarrassed, but it was all for the good cause of his client’s peace of mind.
“Seeing Mrs. Patella, she was highly upset,” he said. “So I just did what I had to do.”
“Recently, our family cat died… of stage 4 cancer,” Brennan said. “I know if it was our cat, my daughters would expect me to get up in a tree.”
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