Having the fireplaces in your Birmingham home checked regularly is certainly wise if you want to ensure that lighting a fire won’t pose a risk – but you should also do it in order to make sure that there are no animals stuck inside, it would seem.

According to Yahoo News, a cat called Cat had to be rescued from a chimney after being trapped inside it for six long days, discovered in the disused structure after the owners of AD Williams funeral directors heard miaowing coming from the chimney of their business premises.

North Devon Animal Ambulance and Metro Rod came to Cat’s rescue, with operations manager at MEtro Rod Dave Tafner saying: “We could not refuse when someone comes with a story like that. It touched the heart strings, so the least we could do was send somebody up there.

“The camera got quite close to the animal and there is some footage of it playing with the camera lens and building up a bit of confidence to take the plunge and realise it could come down.”

This isn’t the first time that an animal has been found in a chimney – and it’s unlikely to be the last. A recent Birmingham Mail report told the tale of a tawny owl who plunged down a chimney and was only discovered when the homeowners heard scratching coming from the fireplace.

RSPCA inspector Hayley Day was called out to the house in Nottingham and saw the poor bird’s legs poking down on the log burner after it fell down the chimney. She said he was covered in soot and very lucky that the householder didn’t use the log burner in question!