The cat disappeared for 30 hours – and was found in a particularly surprising place

A cat named Fluffy disappeared for 30 hours from the Kirby family home in Needham, Massachusetts, and was finally found in the last place they looked: a hole under a new bathtub that was installed during a home renovation. The family members were sure that their white cat had slipped out through the front door during the works, and only later did it become clear that he was actually stuck under the bathroom floor.

“I thought I’d never see him again,” said Melissa Kirby. After Fluffy didn’t come home that night, the family went out in the morning to print missing cat notices, called in a pet locator who came with a German shepherd, and left treats outside to lure him back, but nothing worked.

After 30 hours, Melissa heard a small wail while crying upstairs. “At that point I thought I was hallucinating,” she said. As she approached the bathroom, she saw “a foot sticking out of a hole in the floor,” next to the new tub..

Her husband, Ed Kirby, immediately called an emergency plumber. When asked if this was an urgent case, he replied: “Yes, it’s an emergency. It’s not a leak. Our cat is stuck under the bathtub.” In the published photos Fluffy can be seen peeking out of the hole with his little white head.

In less than an hour Fluffy was rescued from the hole safe and sound, returned to the family. Now the members of the Kirby family are no longer counting on the luck of their little escape artist: “We plan to attach an air tag to him in case he goes out again or gets stuck under another device, and that way we can find him,” said Melissa.