But then he did show up. At 9pm, 21 hours after disappearing, I opened my door and he was there on my step. For a few moments I was relieved. But then he quietly crawled into my closet in a very non-Esmé fashion. After finding where he was hiding, I examined him and noticed a small patch of fur missing. There wasn't just fur missing though, it looked like the skin was gone too. The missing spot was perhaps the size of a quarter, maybe a little larger. All I know is that it was small compared to what was to come.

For the most part he wasn't meowing or moaning one of those low cat moans. He was just sitting there, seemingly stunned, awake but motionless. Originally I was going to write here that "soon thereafter he was off to see the vet. " But I was researching this event by looking at my old sent email from that period and found that I didn't remember all the details correctly.

Not having a car and not knowing any open-all-night urgent pet care places, I wasn't able to get him out to the vet's until about noon on the following day. During the night in my apartment he mostly tried to sit still and rest. But anytime he tried resting on the wound he would start to growl and hiss at himself. There was also a small amount of cat blood around.

Around 4am that night I lost track of where he was. As I emailed to someone: "I have looked everywhere in this apartment. Everywhere. He is either hiding very well and is in a deep sleep or he is hiding very well and has died." He was eventually found (alive!) inside an old recliner chair.

Maybe I did great harm to him by not getting him to the vet as soon as possible. At the time I knew he was injured but I had no idea how serious it was. But I was to find out the seriousness of it after arranging a ride and taking him to the vet.

Next: At the Vet

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