A cat was trapped inside an air conditioning unit on the roof of The Pavilions shopping centre in Uxbridge yesterday (Tuesday).
It took an RSPCA officer and a member of the shopping centre staff an entire day to coax the nervous male tabby out.
It is not the first time frightened pets have been found in mysterious places. In January, RSPCA officer Tracy Dreamer helped to rescue six abandoned rabbits from an alleyway in Ruislip.
In July last year, two young sisters stumbled across a homeless sheep behind houses in Windsor Gardens, Hayes.
Irene Hansford, chair of the Hillingdon, Slough, Windsor, Kingston and District branch of the RSPCA, said: "We got a call yesterday morning from The Pavilions to say that they had a cat in the air conditioning duct on the roof.
"It was a bit of a problem because the cat was terrified and didn't want to come out. An officer went out and said that if the shopping centre had turned the air conditioning on it would have killed the cat."
The rescue mission was not for the faint hearted or anyone scared of heights. It is still not known how the cat, believed to be a one year-old, managed to get up onto the roof.
"It was very high up and I think the cat had been there for longer than a day because he was very hungry and is still really very frightened now," Mrs Hansford said.
"It was quite an operation. Two men couldn't get in the duct or get the cat out so our RSPCA officer had to come back to collect a trap and eventually the cat was brought to safety yesterday evening."
The cat is now recovering at the RSPCA clinic in Crescent Parade, Hillingdon. He is said to be doing well by vet Katie, she said: "He is now coming round quite nicely."
