Roto-Rooter Man Finds Cat In Drain -- Alive

May 2, 2008

HARRISBURG, Pa. –- Linda Grudi says her three-year-old Maine Coon, Bud, behaves more like a dog, but it’s a good thing he’s a cat since he appears to have used up at least one of his nine lives.

After Bud disappeared April 22 near Harrisburg, his family’s search had come to a nearly hopeless end. Then while gardening in her backyard four days later, Grudi heard a faint ‘meow’ but wasn’t sure where it came from.

Turns out, Bud had gotten caught in a drain pipe outside, and was rescued by Dave Jones of Roto-Rooter.

“It’s really a miracle,” Grudi told Pet Pulse. “He loves being outdoors, more like a dog than a cat. He’s a pretty brave cat.”

The 15-pound cat had squeezed into a six-inch-round opening in the pipe, and was lodged more than 100 feet inside. Grudi says she’d never have thought to call Roto-Rooter until a local volunteer firefighter suggested it.

“The heroes are really the Roto-Rooter people,” she said, adding that Bud is doing fine.

“He rubbed all of the hair off of his belly,” Grudi said. “Right now he’s great. He was a little limping from being lodged for so long. His rear legs, he limped on them.

“But he’s perfectly fine, he wants to go back out and we’re letting him out,” Grudi said, laughing.

“The sounds traveled 120 feet through that pipe or we would’ve never heard him,” she said. “When you talk into something like that it’s kind of magnified.

“So we were just at the right place at the right time. He heard my husband and I. We were going to plant some tomato plants.”

Jones and his crew dropped a fiber-optic camera about 100 feet into the pipe to finally locate Bud. The same equipment is used to help retrieve valuables that accidently fall into drains.

“You could see his eyes blink, and that’s when we knew he was alive,” Grudi said. “So they pinpointed the exact spot, dug down about four feet, unearthed the pipe, sawed the pipe, and got her out.

“Then when they were sawing through the pipe it was a little scary. You know, they could’ve sawed right into him, but they knew exactly where the cat was the whole time.”

The Grudi’s live on 40 acres near woods.

“Evidently a predator chased her in there or something, or else she was dumb enough to chase a mouse, and used up all her nine lives there,” Grudi said.

“We have bear, we have fox in the woods. It’s really out here in the wilderness.”

Fortunately, Roto-Rooter got a hold of Bud before Mother Nature did.

“He just became so lodged, he couldn’t turn around or move any further backward,” Grudi said. “He couldn’t do anything. Had any rains come between Tuesday and Saturday he would’ve drowned because he completely blocked the pipe.

“And that’s why they were kind of working kind of fast. Because without food or water for that period of time, the veterinarian was very surprised that he wasn’t more dehydrated. Thunderstorms came later that night, severe thunderstorm downpours, so he would’ve been a goner.”

The pipe opening Bud snuck through has since been closed with screening. Meanwhile, Bud, an adventurous sort who enjoys chasing butterflies and other creatures, has returned to running around outdoors.

“You know, curiosity killed the cat,” Grudi said.

Not this time.

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