Oh, my poor Pointy Baby!

While doing the evening cat feeding, I heard a strange meow in the distance. I went to the outer yard to investigate, but could see nothing, and the meowing stopped.

I heard it again when I topped up the water bowls. It was such a strange meow, I went looking again. This time, I slogged through the snow to the pump shack, thinking one of the mamas had her kittens there. There was no mama, though I did hear tiny kitten meows. Oddly, they sounded like they were coming from just outside the wall. The only thing there is an old, collapsing mini she’d with no roof, and some old junk appliances. I stomped through the snow, anyhow, but could no longer hear kitten meows.

I did hear the strange meow again, though. From another direction.

Looking over, I could see one of the white and grey cats in the “basement ” window of the storage house that keeps falling off. When I heard the meow again, it seemed closer. So I headed towards the chain link fence.

That’s when I could finally see him.

There is a spot along that fence where the yard cats (and skunks) squeeze under to get through the fence. Even in winter, they wear the snow down to access the space.

Pointy Baby was there, but something was wrong.

It wasn’t until I slogged through more snow to reach him, that I could see his head was stuck through the chain link fence.

As soon as I saw him, I realized he had to have been stuck there at least all day. When I did the morning feeding, he wasn’t there, which was a first. How much longer he was stuck there, I can’t guess. The poor thing had been struggling for some time. He had worn out an area around him in the snow, and his lower body was all wet with mud.

I lifted him slightly to look, but could see there was no way I could get him out. I ran to the house to call the girls for help, saying we would have to cut the fence. My younger daughter remembered the bolt cutters, so whle she got shoes on, I ran to the garage to get them.

Between the two of us, we were able to cut him free without adding injury. While I cradled him to warm him up, my daughter did a quick check. One eye was dilated, and she could see where skin was rubbed raw under his chin, but no open wounds.

We headed to the house, where my other daughter brought a towel to wrap him in.

Pointy Baby, meanwhile, snuggled into my arms.

We brought him to my room, where we can keep him isolated. The girls started cleaning him up, checking him over and tending to him, while I called the vet.

It’s Easter, so they were closed, but the message included a number for a vet for emergencies. I called it and spoke to the vet, describing what happened, and how he looked.

She advised to to keep him warm, offer him soft food, and monitor him for an hour. If he got worse, to call her back.

During that time, my daughters kept cleaning his lower body with warm water, and looking him over. His mouth looks like he was somehow managing to bite the chain link. The corners are red and swollen.

We was completely placid the hole time. Even when my daughter started trying to brush out mats for fur.

Aside from the redness from the fence wire, there was a spot I saw before that was getting red because of his fur starting to mat so much. We started cutting the mats out, too.

He purred, even as multiple people worked on him at the same time.

He has shown no interest in food and water yet. In fact, he fell asleep while my daughter and I carefully sheered the huge mat that started under one ear and wrapped around the front of his neck.

It’s entirely possible that mat prevented worse damage to his neck.

Other mats we cut out still had burrsstuck in them.

After a while, he seemed to loose patience a bit. We got the worst out and cleaned up.

We have the baby jail set up for him, which means closing it to keep Marlee out.

For now, though, he is sleeping in my arms.

He’s wrapped in a towel, but I wanted to use my own body heat to keep him warm. I am using my phone to make this post, because I can’t use my desktop right now.

He seems to be sleeping peacefully right now. He would be recovering from shock. My only concern at the moment is that his dilated eye won’t close all the way. Every now and then, I have been gently holding the lids closed, so his eye won’t dry out.

Poor, sweet baby boy!

I will feel much better when I see him eating and drinking.

The Re-Farmer