Cat Rescued From Drainpipe After Paws Were Frozen to Concrete

— -- It was quite a traumatic day Wednesday for one black cat, now named Jack Frost, in Indianapolis.

“We got a call reporting there was a cat stuck down in a drain tube,” Amanda Dehoney, Indianapolis Animal Care & Control’s deputy chief of kennel operations, told ABC News. “We didn’t realize the cat was frozen to the concrete.”

Unable to get out of the deep drain on his own, poor Jack Frost endured an overnight, if not longer, in the sub-freezing cold.

“With the weather we were having right now, it’s freezing at night and his paws had gotten frozen to the concrete from the ice overnight,” said Dehoney.

People tried to help free the animal by pouring hot water down onto the ice, which did ultimately loosen up his paws, but in turn didn’t make for a very happy cat.

“By the time I got there the hot water had been poured on him and had gotten him unstuck from the ice,” the rescuing officer, Billie Bowling, explained.

An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer was called in for assistance to help Bowling, holding his legs as he lowered himself down into the hole.

“He just managed to chip away at the ice a little bit and pull him up and get him out of there,” said Dehoney.

Fortunately for Jack Frost, he was found in time to avoid any serious, long-term injury.

“He’s doing really well,” Ellen Robinson, executive director at FACE Low-Cost, Spay/Neuter Clinic, said of the cat’s status. “He’s much happier today, very lovey dovey. He’s a nice cat. His front two paws are really swollen so we’re worried he might have frostbite.”

The clinic will monitor him to see what happens with his feet, but once Jack Frost regains full health he’ll be available for adoption.

In the meantime, he’s in good company during his recovery.

“Last year a kitten got frozen to a water meter and we named him Olaf,” Robinson said. “He lost three feet but he gets around here just fine. This must be our annual frostbite cat.”