I need to take apart lexus 2004 dash, small life at stake. there's a tiny sick kitten up in there

[cCat]

This very young kitten, which didn't look so well to begin with, went up behind the pedals on the drivers side. Right now its in the center and I can't reach it. I want to extricate it a gently as possible, because while it was up behind the pedals I spent a long while tugging at it's nape, bumping and squashing it, and its definitely a little beat up right now, and I'm not going to go any further manhandling the tiny thing. It's really tiny.

I was going to take it to an emergency vet anyway, even if it hadn't gotten itself stuck, and right now I'm very worried about it.
It went and fell asleep behind the glove compartment earlier (on the short drive home), and from the way it was all hot and wouldn't respond very much to poking I thought it might be fading. It has moved to the center though so i think its kind of ok.

Measures taken so far: loosened the glove compartment, removed the stereo up to the first 2 screws, I can't find the second 2, and left an open can of friskie's in the driver's side foot well.

[shorod]

I don't have any experience with under the dash of the 2004 Lexus or Camry variant, so specifics I won't be any help on. I wonder though if you were to unplug the connector to the left of the cabin air filter, the connector shown in the photos above, it the kitten would be able to climb through that opening.

What I've heard is that if a cat's whiskers don't fit through an opening, the cat won't go through it since the whiskers are an indication to the cat of the size opening it can fit through. Maybe if that wire and connector are moved out of the way, the kitten will feel comfortable climbing through that space.

If the open can of Friskies has not coerced the kitten out yet, that suggests to me that it doesn't know of a way out from where it is.

Best of luck to you and the kitten!

-Rod

[DeltaP]

Interesting about the cat's whiskers. Try soft, canned cat food, especially something with fish. That aroma is 'crack' for a kitty. My cat comes running whenever he hears the can opener! On the other hand I hope it's not so sick that it's lost interest in food. Good luck.