KEVIN the cat may have lost one of his nine lives after falling off a garage roof and getting stuck in a three inch gap.

The black and white cat had to be rescued by firefighters and RSPCA officers after getting stuck between two houses in Middlesbrough,

He had become trapped between a house and garage in Heselden Avenue and was rescued after neighbours heard him.

Animal rescue officer Shane Lynn, from the RSPCA, went to the scene, with firefighters from Cleveland Fire and Rescue, but they were unable to reach Kevin with their specialist equipment.

Fortunately the woman who owned the garage allowed the fire service to remove some bricks near where his body was and Mr Lynn was able to safely free the pet, whose head was wedged between the brickwork and was unable to move.

After being taken to the vets, it emerged he had only suffered a swollen knee. The vet also discovered the cat was microchipped and he was able to be reunited with his owners.

Mr Lynn said: “His owners were extremely grateful to see him. It turns out Kevin moved into the neighbourhood with his owners only four weeks prior to his adventure – so he has already made quite the first impression in the area!

“Kevin had fallen into such a tight gap his body was squashed into a width of about three inches. He really was unable to move and was obviously very frightened and we think he had been there a couple of hours. It then took a further two-and-a-half hours to rescue him.

“Often in these situations we use specialist poles to grasp trapped animals but in this case we could not reach the cat. It was decided the only way to free him would be to go through the garage wall which the homeowner kindly agreed to.”

“I would like to thank Cleveland Fire and Rescue Service for their help in freeing Kevin. We often work with partner agencies and are always grateful for their assistance.”

Mr Lynn went to visit Kevin a week after his rescue, on Friday May 21.

He added: “This really does highlight why microchipping your pet is so important and it is vitally important to tell the chip company yourself if any contact details change which is exactly what Kevin’s owners did."

“If the contact details are out of date the chip is completely useless. We see many cases where we would love to reunite microchipped cats with their owner but can't because the details have not been updated.”

It is a legal requirement to have dogs microchipped and last month it was announced that microchipping pet cats is set to become compulsory under a wide-ranging animal welfare plan.