A missing cat has been found alive – bricked up INSIDE the foundations of a new build house next door.
Four-year-old tabby-Bengal cross Dexter had not been seen for more than two and a half weeks and owner Rosy Clark, 26, feared the worst.
Rescue posters were put all over town and appeals were shared widely on social media but Rosy feared she would never see her beloved pet again.
But she was stunned when she heard her missing moggy “crying” nearby.
She discovered he was built into the brickwork and walls of a home two doors down that had been completed two weeks earlier.
With permission of the developer, the bricks were removed and Dexter emerged having lost a lot of weight but otherwise largely unharmed.
Rosy, a student social worker from Kingsteignton, Devon, said: “It was a fluke. My friend Charlie came over and we both sat in the garden with wine.
“At around 9pm I said, ‘can you hear a cat crying?’, but thought it was my wishful thinking.
“At 11pm I heard it again, I turned to my friend and said, ‘mate can you hear that’?
“It sounded as though it was coming from the newly built house next door.
“I climbed into the garden of one of the two new houses, and I could just about hear him under the house under the air bricks – crying, scratching.
“For the next three and a half hours – until 2.30am – we were working out what to do.”
Rosy then rang the emergency number for the property developer, Baker Estates.
She added: “They have been fantastic. At 7am on Sunday morning we got the go ahead to get the cat out by any means possible.”
Together, working with an electrician neighbour and a builder, bricks were pulled out safely and Dexter was found.
Rosy said: “He was just under the house.
“When he appeared his eyes were streaming because it was so bright, and couldn’t see me – I literally just burst into tears.
“I pulled him out and I was shaking – it was the most incredible feeling, I never thought I’d see him again.”
“He has lost quite a bit of weight and has a cut on his paw, but overall he’s acting like nothing’s happened.
“He just wants lots of attention and fuss.”
Rosy lives on her own with Dexter after buying her house in October.
She added: “I’ve had him since he was 8 weeks old and he is now four.
“I really didn’t know what had happened to him. I had put posters everywhere and I thought he might have been stolen or was stuck in a shed but never in the foundations of a house two doors down.
“I really have no idea how he survived that long. The only thing I can think is that there is a water source under the foundations but I don’t think he had any food.”
The developers Baker Estates have been contacted for comment.
