Poor, poor Ernie!

So our poor little kitty Ernest Hemingway somehow managed to RIP OUT HIS CLAW! I did not even know that could happen to a cat! It must have gotten snagged on something, and then he must have jerked backward (maybe panicked?) and ripped it out.

He's on an antibiotic now, so all should be fine. The vet even said that the claw will eventually grow back!

It's been frigidly cold the past few days, it went down to 1 degree on Sunday night! Due in part to the bone-chilling cold, and also because of his paw, we've been keeping Ernie cooped up on the covered porch. He's got a nice warm bed, food, water (that frequently freezes, but still), and a litterbox, but I was worried about him being bored out of his gourd. So yesterday we decided to go ahead and let him roam free after his morning meds, hoping he'd show back up in time for dinner and evening meds.

I left him on the porch eating but with the door open so he could leave at his leisure, and Dan called me less than an hour later to tell me that he had re-locked Ernie up on the porch because some animal attacked him!

Lucky for Ernie, he must have been quick on his feet. Whatever attacked him only had a chance to rip out a mouthful of tail fur and break a little skin on his tail.

I just feel so bad for him!! He's got to be bored to tears being cooped up on the porch (which is a million times warmer than outside in the open)(not to mention dry and un-windy!). But every time he leaves there is some huge catastrophe! Dan said he saw him walking by the barn when he was walking the dogs, but found him on the porch when he came back from the walk and that was when he saw his tail. So it obviously happened very quickly, and Ernie came boot-scooting back to the safety of the porch.

I guess I'm just relieved that he knows the porch is a safe zone, and he came back there of his own accord. Dan is setting a live trap, and until we catch whatever monster is hiding out in the barn, he's stuck on the porch.