RSPCA rescues cat trapped in boarded-up Hartlepool house for ten days

Felix, a four-year-old female black and white cat, had been missing from her Hartlepool home for 10 days before her owner, Joanne Keir, heard a familiar cry.

She followed the sound to a boarded-up house in Furness Street and saw her missing pet in the top window.

Joanne said: “Felix must have been exploring inside the house and they boarded it up not realising she was inside.

"She’d been missing for 10 days at this point and I just couldn’t believe it when I spotted her.

"I'd stopped eating. I was so stressed about her.”

Joanne called the RSPCA and inspector Steph Baines accessed the derelict property on Monday, February 12, and was able to set a cat trap with some food inside to try and coax Felix out.

Initially, however, she could not be caught.

Joanne said: “Felix was just so crafty.

"She worked out how to nick the meat from the trap and then dash out of the cat catcher in time so the food was gone but there was no sign of Felix.

"The RSPCA officer, Steph, had the patience of a saint.”

But the pair have now been reunited.

Joanne added: “I phoned the RSPCA as my last hope as I’d stopped hearing her cries and I was so worried about her.

"I’d be lost without Felix.

"It was a hard 10 days but I have her back now, that’s all that matters.”

It is believed Felix was living under a gap in the floorboards and is thought to have ate dead pigeons to survive.

Steph said: “As the house was derelict, there were lots of hiding places and we believe she was spending most of her time in the back bedroom hiding under the floorboards.

"After setting a trap and checking it for days we eventually caught her.

"Apart from being very hungry and dirty, she was otherwise fine and glad to be home.”

Her grateful owner explained that Felix has settled in very well back at home with their three other cats and one dog.