A 2.5-metre ladder, standing on the roof of a car, an attempt at creating a cat lift and simply calling 'Here Kitty Kitty' didn't bring Kitty down from a tree last week.
After 36 hours stranded in the fork of the six-metre oak tree, it took just three minutes for a tree lopper to scale the tree and bring her down.
Owner Louise (surname withheld) said it was her habit to release Kitty to the back yard before leaving for work from her Thornlands home at about 7am. She said on returning home, she went out the back yard to water her tomato plants and could hear Kitty meowing.
"I thought she must be hiding in a plant or hurt somewhere. I don't know what made me look up, but there she was about three storeys up in our neighbour's tree. The tree adjoins our fence line," she said.
Louise said she used food to try and entice her down and stood on the roof of her car attempting to swing a rope over the fork of a tree, with the hope she could raise the cat box and create a cat lift.
"I made a lasso of an extension cable and tent guy ropes, then I stood on my car and tried to reach her with two broom handles and a fly swat tied together. The tree is almost vertical and I couldn't get any of this to work," she said.
Louise said she called the RSPCA and the SES who said they didn't help with cats up trees.
"The SES told me they only work with crocodiles and cassowaries," she said.
"I put an ad in the tradie pages and got a call from a tree lopper who would use a cherry picker, then Jack from T and M Tree Services came and scaled the tree and abseiled back down. It took about three minutes. He was great," she said.
Louise said Kitty, a grey tortoise shell rescue cat with an adventurous nature, was dehydrated and exhausted after her 36-hour ordeal, spent up a tree in full sun.
"I have let her out since, but I think I'll be keeping her in more often," Louise said.