Residents Fear for Cat Stuck Up High in Leafmore Creek Pine Tree

Residents of the Leafmore Creek neighborhood are increasingly concerned for a cat that climbed roughly 30 to 40 feet up a pine tree and has been sitting there since at least Saturday.

So far, no one knows who owns the cat – if anyone – and attempts to get it to come down have been unsuccessful, said Charlotte McGuire, a River Oak Drive resident who lives next door to the home where the cat has sat mostly motionless, wedged between two branches, for more than 72 hours.

"[The cat] must be getting awfully weak," she said Tuesday afternoon. "We just don't want him to die."

Neighborhood residents tried calling a humane society and the DeKalb County Fire Department, both of which said they don't respond to cats in trees, McGuire said. The fire department typically turns those requests over to county animal services, which may not have been able to respond depending on the time, said Burke Brennan, county spokesman. Also, generally speaking, cats that climb up trees are able to get down, just not at the owner's behest, he said.

McGuire and members of the Matthews family, which lives next door, were speaking outside Saturday when they noticed the cat in the tree, McGuire said. They've used different methods to get the cat down, including leaving food for it and leaving the area. One volunteer, using a ladder, tried to climb up the relatively branchless tree to coax the cat down, but the spooked feline just climbed higher, McGuire said. It eventually returned several feet to the spot where it's remained: wedged in a V where the tree's trunk splits in two.

Any advice for those trying to save the cat? Tell us in the comments section below.