After a five-hour rescue from a tight space between two brick walls in Portsmouth, England, a cat was finally able to go home.
A scan of the cat's microchip after the rescue showed that Alfie belonged to a family living just two roads away and had been missing for years.
What happened?
Believed to have fallen from a first-floor roof, the 10-year-old became trapped about 1.5 meters down in a gap only around 10 centimeters wide behind a home on Madeira Road in Portsmouth.
He was found on Mother's Day, March 15.
Trying not to seriously injure him, RSPCA animal rescue officers Sarah Whatton and Morgan Ellison spent hours experimenting with ways to support and lift him out.
"We tried for hours to free the cat; we tried prising sticks underneath him to support his weight while pulling with the grasper, but due to the rubble underneath, we couldn't get enough purchase," Ellison said.
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A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service crew was then brought in to test a different extraction method.
"Firefighters devised a pulley system to try to get a rope around his chest, but there wasn't space around him to get it over his hips," Ellison explained.
After those options failed, local vet Rob Lowe from the Lighthouse 24/7 A&E Pet Hospital, as Vet Times reported, fashioned a makeshift "jab stick" so Alfie could be sedated before another attempt to remove him.
Once Alfie was sedated, the team had almost no time to spare.
Ellison said, "The vet told us once the sedation took effect, we had one minute to free him before there was serious risk of breathing difficulties, so we were really up against the clock."
Alfie came out safely despite the lengthy ordeal. Other than needing some matted fur removed, he was checked over and sent home that day.
Why does it matter?
Alfie was reunited with his owners because he had a microchip. Without it, he might have been treated as a stray, and the question of where he belonged might never have been resolved.
A single scan connected rescuers with a family that had apparently been missing him for years.
The rescue also showed how pets can end up in dangerous, hidden spaces close to home.
What's being done?
In Alfie's case, the solution came down to teamwork and patience. Rescue officers, firefighters, and a veterinarian each played a role in adapting to a difficult situation that required care, creativity, and time rather than brute force.
"It took all three of us to pull him out, and by some absolute miracle, he came out unharmed," Ellison said.
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