Yes, that's my official animal bite certificate. I was driving to the music store and saw a lady in the left turn lane with her hazard lights on. As I drove past I saw that there was a cat hanging from between her bumper and radiator. I picked up my items at the music store, and when I came out she was still there. Nobody had stopped yet, so I walked over and offered to help. The lady drove to the parking lot where there was a small auto servicing place and I ran to the vet's office up the street. They told me they couldn't help and gave me the number for animal control.
Meanwhile, back at the parking lot, a couple of big tough looking auto mechanic guys were attempting to free the cat, who was completely stuck. We were afraid that since he appeared to be so injured, calling animal control would most likely result in him being put down on the spot and we tried to free him. Given the position he was in, I was afraid that pushing on him too hard from under the hood would break his back, and every time the mechanics would push on him he'd scream. I asked to borrow some gloves in case the cat was a biter (most scared animals are) and attempted to scruff him.
As you can see, his front paw is still stuck inside the car and his midsection is completely stuck. He's not hissing in this picture; he's crying. Anyway, he bit me and the glove wasn't thick enough. At that point, we had to call animal control because he has to be quarantined. I don't want to get rabies shots. I called animal control and they were quick to respond because it was a bite. The lady in the car and her friend/relative who she called wanted to drive the car to a Mazda dealership a couple miles away and have them remove the bumper. I talked them out of it because a) the drive with the cat this close to the pavement would likely kill him very painfully, and b) if he lived there would be no way to contain him, and he'd be roaming injured. And then I'd have to get rabies shots. I felt kind of bad for keeping them there, but at this point it was probably their only option, and it didn't cost them anything. Needless to say, the lady driving the car was pretty upset at this point and was in tears. She obviously felt pretty bad for the cat.
After half over half an hour of me holding the control stick and the animal control officer working under the hood of the car, we got the cat free. I honestly was afraid he was hurt worse, but he came out pretty well. Meanwhile, it had started to snow, of all things. I went to urgent care because the wound hurt a lot worse than I thought it would (doesn't look like much, but it broke all the way through my fingernail on the top and punctured the bottom) and is swollen. Also, animal bites are dirty and my immune system is the equivalent of a beat up Ford Pinto. I got antibiotics, a tetanus shot, and instructions to watch for blood poisoning and tendon sheath infection. It still hurts like crazy.
I'm thinking of framing my official crazy cat lady certificate.
Also, this is not the weirdest bite I've ever had. I was once bitten by a camel (on my wrist) and ended up with a hematoma the size of a golf ball on my arm.
Now, to my dear fellow El Pasoans:
Stop getting animals you can't or won't take care of. We have a huge feral cat program in El Paso because a few people got cats that they didn't have neutered and they got out and bred. When the weather gets cold, they crawl inside of cars to get warm and we end up with what happened today. We have taken an animal and domesticated it, then left it completely to fend for itself and do nothing but breed in an urban area. This is cruel. More remote areas have endless problems with dogs running free. Sure, they have "owners"...but dogs with owners who are responsible don't allow this to happen, regardless of what kind of dog they own. (In a strange coincidence, I went to elementary school with this man's daughter).
And when you see something like this happening in your own neighborhood, don't look the other way and wait for someone else to help. Stop and see what you can do.
It's less about being the crazy cat lady than it is about being compassionate.
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