In the middle of the night, Chester woke up us by suddenly running out
of our bathroom.  It sounded weird - like a pair of running shoes was
tied to him - slow and heavy and with a weird thumping sound where you
didn't expect to hear it.

I jumped out of bed but Fred had his earplugs in.  I got downstairs to
hear Chester in the basement and some frantic scratching like he was
trying to climb straight up the drywall.  I got scared then and ran back
to get Fred, in case I needed a second pair of hands to, at the time I
thought, untangle him.  Of course, in that precious minute, he
disappeared into the storage room, which is crammed with things from our
renovation.  I spent an hour and a half looking for him to no avail.
The fact that he headed to the storage room meant that he was scared as
that is his safe spot - and there was no way that he was going to give
himself up.  I looked in every single nook and cranny and absolutely
could not find his spot.  I went back to bed, completely terrified that
he had something wrapped around his foot and circulation was being cut
off.  Couldn't sleep at all - just lied there listening for hours.

In the AM, I got up super early and raced downstairs to call him.  He
appeared from behind me (mothership teleportation again) and has a
bloody claw but no other obvious physical wounds.  He wouldn't come
upstairs for a long time, his ridge was partly up, his pupils dilated,
and he was walking a little funny on his injured paw.  After some time,
he came up and had a tiny snack and a few treats.  The water is in our
bathroom, where he just won't go, so I put out some water downstairs.
He walked around and sniffed the floor and was brave enough only for the
basement and main floor.  Won't go upstairs and is now back in hiding in
the storage room.

What happened?  Did some creature (raccoon?) sneak into the house
yesterday afternoon when I was unloading groceries - but the cat food
wasn't touched all night so that doesn't make sense.  Did he see a
raccoon in the screen in the bathroom and that was enough to scare him?
- but that doesn't make sense by the sound he made when he ran.  Did he
get tangled in something in Jane's room since some things were also
knocked off her dresser? - I'll have to ask her when she's up.  Could he
have had a mini stroke and it scared him and he ran like that because
his back legs weren't working?

I'm very worried about him.  I'm trying to figure out how I can possibly
catch him and take him to TED, since I'm worried he might have had a
stroke.  His eyes are still quite dilated.  Or that he got a bite from
some creature that might infect him.

Susan M
Otis and Chester