A cat missing for five days was rescued after he climbed into the chimney of a Wirral house and ended up trapped in an internal wall.
The RSPCA was called to a house in Grove Square in New Ferry when a neighbour it on the roof of a nearby house.
Inspector Helen Smith attended and could see the cat, known as Fluffy.
However a well-meaning member of the public climbed onto the roof with ladders to try and rescue the cat, which scared Fluffy off. He then ran onto the chimney and fell down it .
The fire service were called to the scene and decided to knock a brick out in a bedroom to see if the cat could be spotted.
A firefighter put their hand in to see if they could feel the cat - but frightened Fluffy went to attack it.
Fluffy’s owner Tracey Baker told the ECHO : “It was so nice to get Fluffy back - I knew he was on the roof and he is a real climber but could see he would be able to get down if he wanted.
“But obviously he got scared when someone went up to rescue him and he was stuck in the wall of the house.
“I am so glad the RSPCA and firefighters were able to help rescue him and the kind neighbours also played a big part as well as the people at the house where he was found.
“I kept him in for a few days and hope he has learned his lesson so he won’t go too far again - I know he certainly missed his food.”
Inspector Helen Smith said: “It really was a struggle trying to locate Fluffy and at one point it was thought he had climbed out of the chimney and ran off.
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“But I felt he was in the building somewhere and a neighbour was able to describe the chimney system which helped identify where he might be.
“Then another neighbour came over to help and after firefighters knocked a brick out of the wall of the property - he offered to fix it afterwards for free.
“The homeowners were great in allowing us to gain access in this way. It really was a great team effort by everyone and it was so nice to see Fluffy happy to be reunited with a very relieved owner.
“He was a lucky cat after falling a long way, he could have hit his head or broken his legs.
“In the vast majority of these kinds of cases cats are very capable of getting themselves down from a tree or roof, so unless there are special circumstances, we advise owners to try and coax their pet down with strong smelling food like fish and if that doesn’t work to give us a call back after 24 hours.”
