A mum was forced to ring the fire brigade after her son got his head stuck in a cat scratching post.
Cynthia Olson, 32, had left her four-year-old son Parker alone for just a few minutes, but when she returned she was horrified to discover he had managed to wedge himself firmly into her pet's playground.
Recalling the incident, bemused 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!
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"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 started to run.
"I walk in the house and everybody's screaming. My older daughter is in tears and Parker's screaming bloody murder!"
She added: "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!"
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Despite doing her best to pull her son out, Cynthia had no luck freeing his head from the upper platform of the homemade podium.
While his screaming siblings Evelyn, six, and Marley, 10, were clearly worried about him, Parker confirmed he wasn't hurt, but just could not move.
"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!," she went on.
"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!
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"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.
With no other option, stay at home mum-of-three Cynthia then had to call the fire service to lend her a hand.
Sure enough, four burly firefighters soon turned up, and arrived to free the little lad using washing up liquid.
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"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.
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The hilarious thing is little Parker was the least stressed of everyone, casually watching a movie on a phone to keep him distracted.
"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 the movie was on he was fine- it was just one of those days!," she laughed. "They got him free they started tickling him, they did a phenomenal job!"
Luckily, Parker was freed unhurt, and went outside to have photos taken with the fire truck after his escape.
Quite the exciting day for him overall, we'd say!
Featured Image Credit: SWNS