A couple of months ago, I accidentally discovered the brilliant Randall Kolb, a cat rescuer based in Louisiana.

Known affectionately as the Cat Rescue Guy, Randall has saved many mischievous felines who found themselves perilously stuck up high in trees. 

Recently, he received a call about a kitty named Buttercream who desperately needed his help.

However, this particular rescue story isn’t like any other. Trust me when I tell you – you won’t want to miss it!

An Ordinary Rescue Takes A Tragic Turn

According to Randall’s blog, two people in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, heard Buttercream’s desperate cries from the top of a tree and independently contacted him for help. 

Initially, Randall didn’t treat the situation as an emergency since he had other commitments and planned to respond later.

However, one of the callers, a woman named Marsha, reached out again, worried that the cat had descended slightly but was crying even louder, suggesting she might be injured. 

As Randall was heading to the site, Marsha delivered tragic news: Buttercream had passed away.

All of a sudden, his plan to rescue a cat stuck in a tree took an unfortunate turn. 

Randall, heartbroken and perhaps feeling guilty for not arriving sooner, continued to the tree where Marsha awaited him with an unexpected turn of events – this time with much happier news.

A True Feline Miracle!

Apparently, Marsha saw the cat move. The realization that the cat was still alive made Randall extremely happy. 

Now, all that was left was to get her down from the tree, check for any injuries, and see if she had a microchip and an owner waiting for her.

Describing Buttercream’s rescue, Randall wrote on his blog:

“The cat was very low in the tree but still well out of my reach, and she was not making any effort to come down any lower even though she could easily step down to some lower limbs. I could easily reach her with my catch-pole from the ground, so I prepared to do that and just lift her out of the tree. I had so much difficulty getting the noose into proper position around her chest just behind her front legs that I gave up. It felt silly to get myself rigged up to climb the tree only five feet, but that’s what I did.”

Through the microchip, Randall discovered that Buttercream was a 7-and-a-half-year-old feline, spayed and microchipped by a rescue organization in Texas. 

Since the owner’s contact information hadn’t been updated in the microchip registry for a while, Randall had no choice but to take Buttercream home with him.

Randall was eager to learn more about Buttercream’s previous owner because it was clear she had one. As he explained in his blog post:

“She is sweet, healthy, relaxed with strangers, immediately comfortable with new environments, and very receptive to loving pets. She is a very low-energy cat and the calmest I have ever known. She talks to me when I walk into her room, but, otherwise, she is always quiet. She seems content to just sit and nap by herself all day. (…) Since she appears to be a bit overweight, I get the impression that she has been free-feeding dry food all her life. She shows no interest in escaping the room where I am keeping her, so I suspect she has been an inside cat for a long time. She is affectionate and likes to be close, and when I lie down, she likes to curl up and settle between my body and arm.”

Randall struggled for a couple of days to find Buttercream’s owner but eventually succeeded. 

Unfortunately, since the owner had moved out of state, he was no longer able or interested in caring for Buttercream. 

Thus, Randall’s new mission was to find her a forever home – a mission which he successfully accomplished. As he shared with his followers on Facebook:

“I already have someone who wants to adopt her and will be taking her to her new home in the next few days. I took the cat to the vet this morning where she was found to be very constipated but otherwise very healthy and FIV/FeLV negative. As soon as she is back to normal, I will take her to her new home where I am sure she will enjoy excellent care and all the love a person can give.”

Buttercream’s story truly took me on an emotional rollercoaster; it broke and healed my heart at the same time. 

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. For more cat rescue stories, I suggest checking out Randall’s blog. Trust me when I tell you – each story is worth reading.