GRANTSVILLE, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A West Virginia man’s cat that climbed up a chimney on Monday evening was not found until two days later by firefighters on Wednesday evening. Surprisingly, the cat was found unharmed and healthy.
Thomas McVey, the cat’s owner, says his cat Pedals had climbed up the chimney of their Calhoun County rental home on Monday evening around 7 PM. McVey tried for about an hour to get him out and said he wouldn’t come out on his own.
After repeatedly calling the cat’s name and trying to get him to come down, Pedals decided to crawl further up the chimney. After several failed attempts to try and get him down, McVey turned to Google for a solution.
“Everything I read was like, call the fire department. You need to call the fire department,” McVey said. “I called the fire department and the dispatcher was basically like, we don’t know what to do. And I’m like, well, can, can they at least come out and try.”
The Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department responded to the call and decided to put some food at the bottom of the chimney and told McVey if Pedals didn’t come down the next day, they would try something else.
Tuesday came and there was no sign of Pedals, so the Grantsville VFD came back to the residence. Members of the department brought in some piping and rope in hopes that they would feel the cat or have him grab onto something.
The weather took a turn for the worst on Tuesday as Grantsville received a decent amount of snow and cold weather. Worries were starting to set in for Pedals.
McVey, a travel nurse, had to head back to Fayette County and decided to give the Grantsville VFD fire chief a spare key to the home to make a return trip to help find the cat that has been in the family for over eight years.
On Wednesday, McVey’s wife found a 20-foot-long borescope that was on eBay for sale in Huntington. That same day, McVey rushed to Huntington to pick it up. As he was on his way to pick it up, the fire department sent McVey a text stating they were at the house currently searching for the cat.
20 minutes later, he received another text stating that they have found the cat but he was jammed in the chimney and could not get him out. McVey says another 20 minutes went by and he received a photo of Fire Fighter Jon Fleagl holding Pedals.
Firefighters told McVey that they had to take a few bricks out of the fireplace to get the cat out, but the rescue mission was a success. Firefighters were afraid Pedals might run up the chimney again so they decided to take his litter box into the bathroom and keep him in there until McVey arrived.
Although rightfully scared, McVey says Pedals was unharmed and that he drove him back to Fayette County that evening and gave him a good dinner.
McVey says that he is extremely thankful for the Grantsville VFD and that they are the true heroes in this situation.
