Hartsville cat expected to make full recovery after spending weeks in tree

HARTSVILLE- If cats have nine lives, one Hartsville cat named "Lucky" has most certainly gone through most of them.

Lucky's owner, Richard Nall, said he noticed the cat did not show up for its usual morning walk six weeks ago.

Nall later discovered Lucky perched in a pine tree behind his home, nearly 90 feet above the ground.

Nall tried in vain to get Lucky to come down from the tree and even sought out the help of several tree trimming services and the local fire department, all to no avail.

It wasn't until late Thursday afternoon, that it appeared Lucky may have had a chance to be freed from the tree.

Late Thursday afternoon, crews from Progress Energy and a crew from Arbor Works scrambled to help bring Lucky down from the tree.

Progress Energy crews attempted to use a truck to get close to Lucky, but couldn't reach him.

But after several hours of working to free Lucky, an arborist from Arbor Works was able to make his way up the tree, place Lucky in a bucket and bring him down to the ground.

"He may have used eight of his lives, but he is going to make a full recovery," Nall said after the rescue event.

Nall said he was beyond relieved to know that Lucky was back safely on the ground, after several weeks of not being able to help the cat.

"He was alert, his eyes were wide open, ( he was) skinny as a rail, very dehydrated, and probably was in his last few days," Nall said of Lucky's condition after he was freed from the tree.

Family friend Debbie Wilkes immediately transported Lucky to his veterinarian in Bishopville.

"He was running a temperature and they immediately put him on antibiotics, started IV fluids and gave him vitamin shots and offered him a can of food and he ate it all up," Wilkes said.

Though Lucky's veterinarian said he suffered some setbacks from his time in the tree, he also said it's nothing that Lucky couldn't overcome.

Richard Nall said he was simply astonished at the outpouring of support for one little feline.

"It makes you realize that there are a lot of wonderful people in this world, people that care, sometimes we forget that," Nall said.

Now Nall says he's eager to get Lucky back home, and hopes the cat's adventures in the great outdoors, won't be nearly so adventurous in the future.

"Lucky's got the right name, evidently, because he's very, very lucky and hopefully he learned a good lesson and won't be headed up that tree again," Nall said.

Lucky is being treated at the Bishopville Animal Clinic and is expected to make a full recovery.

He lost nearly half of his body weight during the ordeal and suffered from some starvation and severe dehydration.

Nall said he has not yet decided whether to make Lucky an indoor cat, since he has enjoyed the outdoors his entire life.

He does say though, that if Lucky climbs a tree again, not only does he know who to call to retrieve him, but he'll also make plans to have the feisty feline, de-clawed.