Murrieta Firefighters Rescue Kitten Trapped in Wall

A kitten that got itself trapped in a wall was given a chance at life Monday by Murrieta firefighters.

The rescue happened when the crew from Fire Station No. 2 went to change the battery on a smoke alarm in The Colony retirement community, Murrieta fire Capt. Dan Lopez told Patch.

"This is a service that the fire department provides for our elderly citizens and others who may have difficulty climbing a ladder to change the batteries themselves," Lopez said.

Located near The Colony on California Oaks Road, crews routinely change smoke detector batteries on Fridays, but this resident said his was beeping throughout the weekend so they decided to pay a special visit to him Monday, Lopez said.

Once inside the home, Lopez said they heard meowing sounds, and the resident said he did not have cats though he had noticed wild cats in the neighborhood, Lopez said.

"We tracked down the noise (which he told us he had been hearing for 3 days) and determined that the cat was stuck in an interior wall," Lopez said. "We climbed in the attic and found that he fell down a narrow void space into that part of the wall. How it got into the attic is unknown."

Crews made two holes in the dry wall and were able to rescue the cat, Lopez said, which appeared to be about 4 weeks old.

"It looked pretty good considering he had been in a wall for 3 days," he said. "We took it back to the station, bought it some food, gave it some water and we are currently trying to find a home for the little one."

Lopez and his crew were attempting to adopt the kitten out. If there were no takers, he said they planned to turn it into the local animal shelter, Animal Friends of the Valleys.