Ziggy Stardust Found Trapped in Empty House

Neighbour alerted to search for missing cat by appeal on ChiswickW4.com

Ziggy Stardust on Bobbin's bed following his return

After a ‘traumatic’ few days the owners of ginger and white cat Ziggy Stardust are celebrating his return. He was discovered trapped in a pullout bed in an empty property near his home. He was only found because a neighbour had seen him inside the house a few days earlier and then saw an appeal on ChiswickW4.com to find him.

A neighbour had noticed that a cat answering his description had been inside an adjacent property on Sunday. At this point she was unaware of Ziggy’s disappearance but asked the owner of the property, who wasn’t currently in residence, to check if a cat had become trapped in their house. Then on Wednesday she saw the appeal on ChiswickW4.com and rang Ziggy’s owners to say that she believed the cat to be in the nearby house. Ziggy’s owner, Janet Stone and the neighbour with her two young children went to investigate the property to see if they could see the cat having failed to find the contact details of the people the house belonged to. Unfortunately this mission proved fruitless but later they did manage to get in touch with the owner and he offered to come and meet them at the house at 6.30pm on Wednesday to search the building. He said he had previously checked the house having been notified that Ziggy might be there but there was no sign. However, he agreed to do another search to make absolutely sure.

There was no sign at all of Ziggy but then the owner of the house pointed at a closed cupboard in a back bedroom, he said, "The only thing that is different is that that door was open". They tried to open what wasn’t a door but a panel for a pull out bed, but it was stuck fast. Then they heard a miaow. They managed to pull the panel out a few inches and saw poor Ziggy stuck between the wall and the mattress, terrified. They couldn't let the panel close or we would have crushed him and they couldn't open it. After about half an hour, Janet’s husband arrived and the extra pair of hands was used to extricate Ziggy whilst they held the panel open.

Ziggy had been trapped there for three nights without food or water and his owners think he wouldn't have survived another night.

He was shaking with fear and hunger but is now safely home and very keen on staying close to his humans. Their other cat, Bobbin, is even letting him share her bed, which is a first.

Janet said, “There are three morals to this story: 1) ensure that cat flaps are locked shut when houses are left empty; 2) people in the Chiswick area are amazingly kind and helpful; 3) ChiswickW4 is a very effective community asset and without it, I don't think we would have got Ziggy back.”

February 16, 2017