A mum was forced to call the fire brigade to free her son after he got his head stuck – in a cat scratching post.
Cynthia Olson, 32, had left four-year-old Parker alone for just a few minutes when he managed to wedge himself firmly into the pet playground.
Despite wiggling and lifting him, Cynthia couldn’t free his head from a hole in the upper platform of the homemade podium.
Despite the screams from his siblings, Evelyn, six, and Marley, 10, Parker confirmed he wasn’t hurt – but could not move.
Stay at home mum-of-three Cynthia had no choice but to call the fire service, and four burly firefighters arrived to free the little lad.
Parker – who was watching a movie on a phone to keep him distracted – was freed unhurt, and went outside to have photos taken with the fire truck after his escape.
Grateful Cynthia, from Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA, said: “I have no idea what he was doing – I’m so baffled. He’s a boy so he’s into everything!
“I walked out to the garage to get something and I started hearing some screaming, so I headed in and my middle child Evelyn screamed that Parker was hurt so naturally I start ed to run.
“I walk in the house and everybody’s screaming. My older daughter is in tears and Parker’s screaming bloody murder!
“I’m just praying for no broken bones today. Parker has broken two bones already and is a bit accident prone – it runs in the blood!
“So then I walked into the bedroom where he was screaming and his head was really wedged in there. But I couldn’t get his head out!.
“I tried wiggling him so I could try and wedge his head back through, but I am a bit vertically challenged and it’s a homemade cat post that’s almost 6ft tall!
“It’s taller than me and weighs over 75 pounds and I couldn’t tip it because of the way his neck was.
“His sister Marley was trying to calm him down in the meantime so she shoved a phone underneath him and played a movie to distract him.
“Once the movie was on he was fine- it was just one of those days!”
Cynthia couldn’t manage the simultaneous lift, turn and wiggle Parker required to be freed, so after a few minutes called 911.
“I assumed they would be able to cut it off. I’m not talented with a saw, so there was no way I was doing that, not with his neck so close!” she added.
The firemen were at the Olson household within 10 minutes of Cynthia’s unique call for assistance, on November 18, and freed Parker by standing above him and pulling him out.
She said: “The firemen came in and asked ‘is somebody stuck?’, so I brought them into the bedroom and they immediately started chuckling,
“Three firemen came with their chief, so there were four professionals there, and they were all giggling!
“They even brought about a gallon of dish soap to try and slide him out – it was just too funny!
“All I could think was; ‘Of course this is happening!’, so had to start taking pictures.”
It only took the firemen ten minutes to release Parker from his furry prison, and the majority of that time was them trying to assess the best way to do it.
She said: “They held him up straight with his legs over their shoulders to get him out.
“I would’ve had to stand on a chair but fortunately they were tall enough,” she said.
“The scratching post is made of platforms, so it’s really a four-storey cat playground, but unsurprisingly we didn’t see any of the four cats during the commotion!
“Once they got him free they started tickling him, they did a phenomenal job!
“When they were all done they offered for all my three kids to come outside and take some pictures with the fire truck, it was such a good experience.