More Than One Way To Skin A...Rabbit?

It was May 15, 2003 and I was at work at my Dad's Texaco. Someone came in and said there was a strange noise outside. It was a tiny kitten that somebody had thrown in the bushes. He was an orange tabby and I fell in love immediately. I called David and asked if we could keep him. He said yes and that's how we got our first pet. We tried to keep Max as an indoor cat. David was fearful something would happen to him. So was I, but you can't cage a bird. It was quickly evident that Max needed to go outside. He'd keep us up all hours of the night. Finally, we gave in and let him spread his wings so to speak. When we lived in Phoenix, he would go out during the night and come home to sleep during the day. Since moving to Prescott Valley, our beloved Max has almost abandoned us. We didn't see him the first 10 days that we moved up here and he did another week long disappearance after our trip to Idaho in June. We leave food outside and he comes and goes as he pleases. He only wants to come in if it's raining. We live in a rather rural area still and we often find presents that he brings home for us, mice, birds and his favorite are baby cottontail rabbits.

This morning, David woke me up at 7:35. I didn't even make it to the restroom before Emily came running up with a story. And, my day begins... She told me there was a rabbit by the table who lost it's skin and he's still alive. What? She dragged me by the hand and told me I had to come see it. Lovely, this will make for a pleasant wake up call. Sure enough, Max got another baby bunny. He somehow managed to rip off almost all of it's skin and fur on his back. The skinned part with fur is sitting a few feet away from the bunny. Fantastic. I don't know why he left him there without killing him. That's unlike Max. Maybe the bunny went into shock and the challenge was over for our little feline. What am I supposed to do now? This poor thing is still alive. Do I wait for it to die like a science experiment? I doubt I could save him. I don't think some neosporin will quite do it for this little guy. I need to think of something quick because my father-in-law has been saying he wants to find a bunny for stew.


***Bunny Update*** I called 6 different people who apparently do wildlife rescue. I basically was told that the bunny will die. He was probably injured more than what we can see, as if what we can see isn't enough to kill him. They also said if my cat got him chances are he may have had a hurt leg or something to begin with. Uh, they don't know my cat. He doesn't need an advantage. I ended up bringing him to our vet. They said the Dr. would look at him when he got a chance and if it was best, they would put him to sleep to end his misery. Emily just woke up from her nap and wanted to know what happened to the bunny. I told her I took it to the Dr. She was mad and said, "Why didn't you just put ice on it?" Ice, the magic cure all. If it were only that easy.