West Midlands Fire Service rescue kitten from a wall in Walsall

A kitten has been reunited with the firefighters who spent seven hours rescuing him from a wall cavity.

Little Red, named after the Red Watch firefighters who saved him, was just days old when he fell 13ft (4m) into a narrow wall cavity in Walsall on 31 July.

Vets expected that the outcome could have been very different had he been found any later, West Midlands Fire Service said.

Stray Cats Rescue Team West Midlands, the shelter now looking after Little Red, thanked the public for the piles of donations received after an appeal on Facebook to support his recovery.

“Red is very grateful for the presents sent his way. He got surplus of everything so other kittens will benefit too,” the shelter said.

The fire service said that during the reunion, the kitten “was especially fond of curling up for a short nap in one of our firefighters’ helmets”.

It added that Little Red was “recovering better than anyone expected”.

Since Little Red’s rescue, he had been stretching his legs and drinking lots of milk, the shelter in Albrighton, Shropshire, added.

The kitten was “extremely weak, floppy, pale and gasping for air” when he was pulled from the wall cavity, but he had been improving with nursing care from Cavan Vets in Wolverhampton, Stray Cats Rescue Team stated.

“This kitten here, he’s a really special one,” the shelter said.

The shelter has also appealed for funds to help it raise £4,000 to cover bills as they struggle “beyond belief”.

It said that Little Red’s care was just one factor that contributed to the bill and money would be gratefully received for the care of more cats.

“We need to be raising each case by case, each bill by bill, else we get into a mess,” the shelter said.