Meow! The True Story of a Kitten Rescue

When you see videos on your social media of daring animal rescues, you never think that it’s going to be you who is doing it. Picture it: a life and death situation, a scared animal, and a group of kind people who are doing their very best to save it. Sure, I love watching those videos, and I always breathe a sigh of relief when the animal comes out safely, but I never thought that I was going to be in that situation. And oh boy, what a story it was. 

It was about 9 o’clock and I was just getting home from dinner with my dad. We were full, happy and having a nice conversation about how we were going to watch some TV, relax and go to bed. However, two seconds– literally two seconds– after we had entered the house, there was a knock at the door. I hadn’t even taken my shoes off yet. I opened the door, and it was our neighbor John. He looked…frazzled to say the least. John said that there was a cat stuck between the two walls of the garage. Now, in case you can’t picture that, let me explain: my dad and I live in a townhouse with multiple units. We live on the first floor, and John is our upstairs neighbor. The twin apartment on the other side has a mirror image of our apartments, and we all share a small courtyard for garages. The garages are separate buildings, with a wall and a small sidewalk in the back to get to the trash cans and the back entrance of our houses. Between the garage wall and the retaining wall of our neighbor’s house on the other side of the street is about a six-inch gap. Somehow, a cat had managed to get stuck in that gap, and John heard the meowing. Of course, after hearing this, we grabbed flashlights and raced out. Low and behold, in the dark crawlspace between the two walls, was a pair of glowing eyes. At first, I was worried it had died, but, thankfully, it started singing its protests as soon as we entered the scene. The cat was wedged about ten feet away from us in the wall, and I still have no idea how it got in there. The shingles from our neighbor’s house cover the gap on top, so it must’ve slipped through and fell down as far as it could go until it got stuck. At this point, it was me, my dad, and our upstairs neighbor John. 

John went off to call Animal Rescue, and we were stuck with the duty of comforting the understandably annoyed cat. John called Animal Rescue, and the guy said that he would be there soon. In the meantime, another member joined this party: Marco, the man who lived in the house on the other side of the street. He was able to see the cat from on top of his roof on the other side, so now we could see the cat from all angles. And oh boy, was it stuck. John went to get some PVC tubes that he happened to have in his garage, and we started to use those to try and wedge the cat out. it did not work. The PVC tube was too flimsy for us to move the cat, and it was really stuck between the walls. However, the PVC tube did manage to dislodge a toy car that was somehow also stuck in the wall. What do you know! Anyway, Marco, my dad, and I were all trying to get the cat out with the PVC pipes, all while it was meowing very loudly. Eventually, John came back, now with someone from the Animal Rescue services in tow. His name was Andrew, and he had some tools that we didn’t. Nevertheless, our efforts still didn’t work. 

The loop we were using couldn’t get around the cat and it didn’t seem that we were going to be getting it out anytime soon. Eventually, John had the brilliant idea of wrapping some saran wrap around the PVC pipe and feeding it through to Marco on the other side, who would then hand it up to Andrew on the roof and we would use it as a sort of sling to get the cat up and out the top. However, to do this, I had to stick my entire arm into the wall. Still, it was worth it, despite it being a little bit uncomfortable. We tried this, and it was working very well until it wasn’t. The saran wrap was sliding on the side of the cat, and we had somehow managed to flip it on its side– not a good position. Things were getting kind of dire, and the cat was beginning to shake, which was not a good sign. We went so far as to suggest cutting a hole in Marco‘s wall to get the cat out. Thankfully, we didn’t have to do that. Two more girls, Marco’s neighbors, came to aid in our struggle. So, now, for one itty-bitty cat, there were seven people carrying out a rescue operation. 

On our side, my dad was manning the PVC pipe with the saran wrap attached, which we now had doubled over multiple times to make a thicker barrier, while Marco was on the other side, shimming it up. Andrew was on the top, trying to get the cat once it came out, and John was off to find some olive oil, which Marco‘s neighbor had suggested we pour on the cat to make it more slippery. Needless to say, it was a crazy situation. The cat was scrambling up the wall, but it was still on its side and we didn’t seem to be helping. I was barking orders to the other side, trying to communicate what my dad and John were saying to Marco and Andrew. Eventually, we got the cat scared enough to shimmy up the wall while we kept the saran wrap under it to push it up. Finally, it got to the top, and Andrew made a wild grab to catch it, skinning his knee in the process. We all let out a sigh of relief. The cat was safe. And yet, it wasn’t even a cat; it was a seven week year-old kitten! Somehow, it had managed to escape from its litter and fell into our wall. I don’t know how else to put it. 

Andrew put it in a cardboard box and we all crowded around. Even though it was whining a lot while it was in the wall, understandably so, the kitten quieted right down as soon as it was out and safe. He then took it to the vet, and we all went our separate ways, happy, knowing that we had saved a little kitten. His name was Wilkins, and, although I’m not sure what happened to him, Andrew said that he would go into foster care and then be adopted. I would have adopted him myself–trust me–but I have a severe allergy to cats. Oh well, at least now I have a story of the great kitten rescue.

Kitty Rescue Van Free Stock Photo via Public Domain Pictures.