After four days stuck in a 70-feet tall tree in Papworth Everard, Victor the cat was reunited with his owner after a tree surgeon rescued him from the very top of the upper branches.

Distraught owner Andrea Pearson, 49, and a concerned neighbour had been searching for the missing moggy after it went missing on Sunday morning. Another local resident, who was out walking her dog, told Andrea that she had heard meowing from a large wooded area in the outskirts of the village.

Andrea found her cat, who is mainly black with a white nose and paws, in the tree, but attempts to entice it down were fruitless. Despite the Fire Brigade and RSPCA attending, they failed to get the terrified cat to safety.

“Victor was on the tip of the top branches and it was so distressing to leave him there on the Tuesday night,” said Andrea.

As a last resort, she searched online and found the contact details for a tree surgeon and contacted Richardson Tree Surgery just down the A14 in Bar Hill. Edward Richardson and his wife Suzanne, who have three cats themselves, leapt into action on the Wednesday morning.

By this time the terrified cat had reached the very top of the tree and it took Edward over an hour to scale the upper limits of the canopy. Wearing a safety harness and secured by a rope, he managed to coax the cat close enough to grab him, before securing the nervous moggy in a bag. He then abseiled the 70 feet back down to terra firm and reunited Victor with his delighted owner.

Andrea, who also has five other cats, said: “I really feared the worst and am so relieved to have Victor back home. He devoured the food we gave him and now seems back to normal.”

“Edward is a star,” she added. “He completely saved the day. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. They’re animal lovers and refused to charge us, which is so refreshing in this day and age.”

A crowd of concerned neighbours and family had gathered during the rescue operation and Edward received a rousing round of applause when he got back to solid ground with the shaken but unharmed moggy.

“I have been asked to climb large trees to retrieve model planes and kites, but never cats,” said Edward. “Victor was crying and filled with fright and was clearly not capable of climbing down on his own. The higher I climbed the higher he climbed until he could go no further. I was delighted to be able to help Andrea and Victor.”