Sadness! I went to bed last night so sad!

Brutus made another appearance. He came over to eat and again let me pet him. He is such, such, such a mess. I laid on the ground outside, trying to decide what to do - it was 2 a.m.! I couldn't take him to a vet at that point and couldn't keep him in the carrier overnight! But he looks so bad and smells so bad. I had to do something. So I shooed my cats into the house so the porch would be empty and grabbed the towel to try to catch Brutus.

Unfortunately, it again didn't work. He likes me to pet him, but gets anxious when I put any pressure on his body, just like any other cat. Forget a towel. And when he threatens fangs, I back off. At one point, he batted me with his paw - I felt nothing. I can't help but wonder if some asshole had him declawed and he escaped and that's half of the reason he's in as bad as shape as he is - he's defenseless! Or maybe he kept them sheathed for me, I'm not sure.

I tried to talk nice to him and get close right until he ran over a fence I couldn't scale. He really, really wants to trust me - and does until he thinks I'm going to pick him up.

In any case, the wound looks worse, not better. He's a total mess. Poor thing. Tonight I'll make sure I have a sweatshirt and some gloves handy come 2 a.m.

Wish me luck!  ¶ 9:51 AM