Dan Kraus Founder of Cat in a Tree Rescue
was featured in the West Coast episode of
‘Must Love Cats’ on Animal Planet

Dan Kraus started rescuing cats stuck in trees in 1998 during a wet winter in the Seattle area.  It all started when Dan heard about a cat that had been stuck at the top of an 80-foot tree for five cold and rainy nights. The cat’s owner had made many phone calls looking for help and the story reached Dan.  Dan knew he could easily climb any tall tree to help and having a soft spot for cats, he just couldn’t go home after work knowing the cat was going to be up there for a sixth night. Dan drove through the Seattle rain and traffic after working all day in the rain. He still remembers how miserable the poor, wet cat looked, so weak and bedraggled. By the time he arrived  the little cat could barely muster many meows.  Dan gently scooped the cat into a soft bag and carefully descended down the large Douglas-fir. The touching reunion between owner and cat left a thoroughly soaked Kraus with warm thoughts. He decided then to begin an arboreal feline emergency response service, using his expert tree climbing skills to help concerned cat owners when cats get stuck in trees.

And so Cat in a Tree Rescue Service was born. Kraus has traveled all around the Puget Sound and Seattle area since 1999 and has rescued about 1,000 cats (plus an assortment of pet birds, orphaned baby squirrels, model airplanes and pet iguanas). Each rescue, is a story with a unique situation filled with concern, drama, and sometimes danger. (See Photo Stories)

In 2003, Dan Kraus started this website . If you need help rescuing your cat, there is a directory of climbers with locations around the world, committed to rescuing cats stuck in trees (See the Directory). Kraus has built this directory to extend the emergency arboreal feline rescue service he offers to cat owners around the world. The directory includes almost every other US State, Provinces in Canada, Australia, Europe and elsewhere Internationally. Look around this site. It has information about cats stuck in trees and things to try (See Info and Faqs).

Dan Kraus was the 2005 International Tree Climbing Champion. He has been an ISA certified arborist for more than 20 years. Dan moved to Seattle, Washington in 1998 after meeting his wife at a tree conference, the family has two daughters. Kraus grew up on Hawaii’s Big Island working for his father’s tree company Tree Works, Inc. Besides rescuing cats and providing expert residential tree care, Dan also has climbed trees for canopy research, has taught climbing technique and safety classes, and provided hurricane relief tree work after Hurricanes Iniki and Katrina. After hurricane Katrina, Dan spent months on locations in Louisiana and Mississippi helping establish tree hazard safety standards and then supervising and conducting the work making huge swathes of damaged trees safe again for residents.

Dan Kraus is a tree pruning and climbing expert. He also does tree work including Fine Pruning for any size tree, Technical Removals, Cabling & Bracing, Stump Grinding & Consulting Services. Visit Champion Tree Care for more information. Champion Tree Care, serving all your tree care needs.  (425) 353-5434.  email: dankraus.champtreecare@gmail.com Online at www.champtreecare.com

 Tree climbers, companies or animal handlers wishing to be listed in the directory, or wishing to update their information should contact Dan Kraus by email at dankraus.champtreecare@gmail.com or by phone (425) 806-3845.