Ohio Cat Rescued after Three Chilly Winter Days in Drain Pipe

On Wednesday March 12th, students heard the frantic meows of a cat on the grounds of Donnell Middle School. After intense investigation by middle school students, they deemed that there was a cat inside of a drainage pipe. They alerted school officials who in turn contacted animal control officers. At first they tried the classic lure of "here kitty, kitty" to try to lure out the cat and when that did not work they even tried to lure it out with an app that meowed The calling only made the cat howl louder. After these more conventional methods did not work, it was determined by animal control officers that the cat was stuck. 

It was unclear how long the cat was stuck in there at first. The cat had likely crawled inside the drainage pipe looking for a warm place to sleep during Findlay, Ohio's frigid winter days. The downspout pipe descends from the roof of the school below ground for about four feet then runs about 50 feet to the street. The cat had become stuck at the turn of the pipe near the foundation of the building, which was a few feet below the ground.

After 18 hours of hard work, groundskeepers at the school were able to dig the pipe up and cut it open so that they could pull out the senior aged orange cat. This stray was given the name Piper and veterinarians said that "If they truly have nine lives, he probably has three left."

It was later determined from the male cats condition that he had been in there for about three days. When Piper the cat was plucked from the drain pipe, he was emaciated, muddy and hypothermic. Piper was also diagnoses with a broken leg and other injuries that show that the cat was having a rough time on the street before getting stuck in the pipe. Piper has since been taken to Hancock County Humane Society where he is receiving treatment for his injuries. If not claimed soon, he will go up for adoption, though there is already a long line of potential adopters to give this old cat a good home.