A sleepy little kitten is lucky to be alive after his owner put her washing machine on – without knowing he was curled up asleep inside.
Comet the kitten was stuck on a hot wash for several minutes after his owner Naomi Thompson got up in the middle of the night to put the washing machine on without checking if he was asleep in the drum.
The five-month old nearly died after being tossed around in hot temperatures until Naomi heard his desperate meows.
His quick thinking owners saved the kitty from the death drum and performed CPR.
Naomi, from Gillingham, only realised she had accidentally shut the door on the sleeping kitten when he started meowing loudly – from the middle of the spinning, water-filled machine.
Despite managing to rip off the locked door with her bare hands, Naomi could not find lifeless Comet out of the soapy laundry.
Husband Perry woke to the sound of Naomi’s screaming and rushed downstairs, fearing someone was trying to break into the house.
Perry said: “She said Comet was in the washing machine but I couldn’t see anything.
“I put my hand into the water and felt his tail in among the clothes right at the bottom of the big drum.
“He wasn’t breathing and his eyes were wide open.
“I honestly thought he was gone.”
Comet twitched, and Perry put him on the kitchen floor and started doing CPR.
He added: “It was the only thing I could think of to try to bring him back to life.
“I was pumping his chest and breathing into his mouth and, thankfully, he came round.”
Emergency vet Vets Now treated the young kitten.
Vet nurse Victoria Camburn said: “Comet was in a pretty bad way when he came in.
“He was disoriented and wheezing, so we put him straight into an oxygen tent and vet Nuria gave him fluid therapy.
“We were concerned about pneumonia, but thankfully the ultrasound scan showed there was no fluid on the lungs or in his abdomen.
“The other diagnostic tests we did, however, did show issues with his breathing and an electrolyte imbalance, which we treated.”
