We arranged to send a trapper to rescue Chocolate and get him to a veterinarian. But then Chocolate apparently went into hiding, and there was no sign of him for several days. Not knowing any of his possible hiding places, we had to wait. But then, after three days, triangle-shaped tracks appeared in the snow leading away from his food dish, so we knew Chocolate was still nearby and he was hungry.
Early the next morning, our trapper came out with a drop trap, (a special type of trap used to catch injured cats), and successfully trapped him. He had a nasty hole in his hind leg that went straight through to the other side. We discovered that Chocolate is friendly (not surprising, since most injuries to outdoor cats occur to friendly, not feral, cats). We transported Chocolate to a veterinarian, where his injury was drained repeatedly, and he received pain medication for a week and was put on a regimen of antibiotics. Chocolate allowed our trapper to clean his face with a wet paper towel at the vet’s office as he was having the drain in his leg changed. His two veterinarians believe that Chocolate has a good chance of keeping his leg because, aside from the injury, he is young and healthy.
Chocolate’s recovery is going even better than expected, and his spirits are excellent. We’re happy to report that the woman who was feeding Chocolate before he was injured invited him to live the rest of his life indoors, with her other cats and dogs.