'Relief!' Hole drilled through brick to rescue cat trapped in chimney sealed from the inside



KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A cat was rescued after spending days trapped inside a chimney.

"Most people said that it wasn't worth risking a beautiful fireplace that's not even in use. we were really heartbroken -- just to feel like we weren't going to have her presence around," said Taylor Hazley, cat owner.

Roommates living in a home near 41st and Warwock in Kansas City said they heard their cat, Marble, meowing after missing for days.

"She probably climbed one of these trees and fell off into the chimney, or she just slipped off the chimney thinking she could get warm -- trying to get inside through that way," said Tuesday West, cat owner.

They couldn't figure out where the meowing was coming from. They eventually realized it was coming from their chimney. After phone calls to various agencies for help, they were hopeless.

"Went to sleep last night pretty much accepting that I probably wouldn't have a cat anymore," said Hazley.

Then they called Full Service Chimney.

"What they said was a couple of the other companies, fire departments, just basically said 'we can't help you,' unfortunately, so we made it a point to come out here and take care of the issue," said Chris Terrones with Full Service Chimney.

The chimney was old and sealed from the inside. The only way to get Marble out was to drill a hole through the side of the brick. They used a camera to see exactly where the cat was, and then started cutting through the brick.

"At first, it was on its back, and then it turned around and kind of hissed at me a little bit," said Terrones.

The rescue operation took hours, but Hazley and West said they were just glad Marble was safe in the end.

"I just want to say thank you to these guys, uh, Full Service Chimney, um, they were really the only people who would come out and, like, actively try to do something about this," said Hazley.

"Relief! Definitely relief, and definitely glad that she was OK. She doesn't look like she has any broken bones or anything," said West.