On the morning of June 24, 2014, I arrived to the shelter and before I could even put my things down, I was immediately notified that the Animal Services Officers would be needing my assistance in the field. A cat, presumably feral, had gotten its head trapped in a very small hole in a large metal door on the side of a metal shop in San Jose.

I gathered my equipment and headed out into the field with an officer.

The officer transported me to a warehouse-like building that was the metal shop. There were many large (and loud!) pieces of equipment within the building, and one wall had a several thick metal doors that were essentially continuous with the walls of the building. The doors had small holes in them that were about 1″ to 1.5″ in diameter, but there was one door that had a slightly larger hole. This was the hole that a cat decided to escape through. Unfortunately, it failed.

When I arrived, the original officer to respond to the scene was present and showed me to the location within the warehouse where the cat was located.

The cat was definitely stuck and was in an awkward position, groaning and periodically flailing trying to get free.

Inside the metal shop, the cat was found stuck in a small hole in the metal door. The towel and carrier were brought by the officers.

We moved outside and around the building to gauge how the cat looked on the other side. Unfortunately, he looked even worse on the other side. His head was wedged very tightly within the hole, and he had blood in his mouth. A streak of dried blood also ran down the door, and a small spot of blood resided on the ledge below his head.

On the outside of the metal shop.

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