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I tore apart my fireplace to rescue a kitten: ‘Never an option to not’

Jul 26, 2023

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This cat is definitely feline good after being rescued.

A popular TikTok user who goes by the name Kass, or @phillyfoodgirl on the app, is sharing her high-stakes cat rescue story.

In a five-part series this week, the foodie documented the rescue of her family's new kitty, which they found in a pipe connected to their home's gas fireplace vent.

During the first two clips, she shows two miniature, striped kittens crawling out of the opening of the pipe that led to the outside – before they retreated back into the appliance again.

But in an amazing twist of events, they were able to rescue one of the baby cats from being stuck in the pipe, as they went in through their basement after hearing the animal's cries.

The fifth and final video in the series showed Kass’ husband and her 15-year-old son using a large pair of pliers, a hammer and other household tools to cut the pipe open and retrieve the kitten with their hands.

In a statement to The Post, Kass explained that it was "never an option to not rescue him."

"I was thinking ‘I cannot believe MY husband is tearing apart this house to get the cat out,'" Kass said of what was going through her mind during the rescue.

She explained that they already have a cat, a nine-year-old rescue from Providence Animal Shelter in Pennsylvania named Hazel Mae, also known as Haze.

Her husband was always worried about how he would react to a new animal in the house.

"I was excited and nervous, and VERY concerned that the cat would get harmed in the process, or jump out and run off, but honestly it all happened so quickly that we were just acting on sheer adrenaline and instincts to get him out," Kass explained.

"I never even considered that we were destroying part of our house and it would need to be repaired; those types of things can always be fixed but rescuing him was an immediate need."

In a follow-up video, Kass broke down the story and explained how they even found the kitten in the first place.

Last Thursday, she had heard the two kittens crying and the mom growling from inside her house.

"Thursday night, we gave them some food, gave them some treats, and heard them crying from my bedroom window when we went to bed that night," the TikTok creator explained. "But we knew that the mom was there, we knew that they were safe."

The next day, on Friday, she explained that they heard the baby crying again, but weren't exactly sure where the cat family was — until they finally realized that it was coming from a tube that led to a gas fireplace that never gets used, located in their basement.

When they finally were able to get him out he stopped crying, and they gave him some food, describing the kitty as "ravenous."

They immediately took the animal to the Providence shelter, where experts estimated that he was only four or five weeks old.

He is now being registered as a foster pet so that the shelter will be able to pay for his shots and medical needs – something she notes wouldn't be able to happen without donations.

"Once he's a certain weight, we can officially adopt him, but this is all just a formality and he is never leaving our house," Kass wrote to The Post.

Kass also revealed that she is not sure where the mom and other babies went, but that she was familiar with the kitty's mom, as it had been hanging around her neighborhood for the past few years — and would continue to keep an eye out.

The family, who found the cat on Memorial Day, decided to name their new pet "Murph" after Lt. Michael P. Murphy, the US Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient who passed away in 2005 during the war in Afghanistan.

Currently, Murph is doing "great," Kass assured The Post.

"He had minimal adjustment, is a total cuddle bug, is using the litter box, and the interaction with Haze is getting better every day," she wrote.

"Haze almost looks like she's getting interested in playing with him, but she's not quite sure yet. He had his first bath last night and slept for two hours after. He also feels like a ball of feathers he is so soft."

She also added that they feel "fortunate" to be able to give Murph a "wonderful life" with a "very loving family."

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