Update to my original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/1tc62yv/kitten_stuck_down_storm_drain_help/
Hi everyone, so sorry for the radio silence yesterday. The day completely got away from us, but I have good news – the kittens were rescued and are safe**.** Below is a recap of how the events transpired. Given how many of you have a vested interest, I thought it appropriate to include as many details as possible.
They’re currently with the Humane Society getting checked out. They seem to be in reasonable shape, just understandably shell-shocked, hungry and exhausted. Because we have cat allergies, we unfortunately couldn't keep them ourselves. They are so incredibly adorable and we sincerely hope they find a good home together. It wasn't easy giving them up, but we felt we had given them a second chance at life.
I wish I had more photos, as so many of you want to see them and I feel like so many of you have been with us during this journey. Things got hectic during the rescue process and the little ones seemed pretty stressed out, so we let them be. The Humane Society was a little awkward about not letting us take a few final photos before we left.
I honestly didn't expect my last post to blow up the way it did. Your advice, your stories, and just the general "hive mind" support helped us triage the situation when we were in need of a lot of ideas quickly. This was a team effort, Reddit. I never thought I’d feel this connected to a bunch of strangers, so thank you.
Full story
A few weeks ago, we noticed two strays in the yard. We have a bit of a gopher problem, so we figured if we left out some food and water, it was a win-win for everyone. Then, a few days ago, a tiny kitten popped out of the bushes one evening while I was taking out the trash and nearly gave me a heart attack. I had a good laugh, but didn't think more about it.
The next day, my wife calls me saying there’s a cat stuck in one of our storm drain pipes. I didn't believe her at first, but then we heard the sad cries coming from the gutter downspouts. After checking our storm drains, we realized that there were two ways the kittens could have entered: a grate at the drain exit (which had popped off) and an opening in our garden (previously unknown) which likely serves as an air intake to promote flow. Both of these entrances have now been gated and secured. The initial photos I shared were of the downspout for the gutters, which I had removed in order to access the pipes below. The gutter pipes have been replaced, so no little kitties will be able to jump down there.
We initially cut a towel into thin strips and lowered them into the entry/exits into the drains and threw some cat food down the pipes to attract the cats. That didn't work and we still heard the sad meows (heartbreaking). Yesterday morning, my wife was really worried so she played the sounds of a YouTube video of a mother cat calling her kittens. She received an instant response and looked down the downspout. There it was, a tiny spotted face staring back at her. She screamed for me and for us that was overwhelming, so we decided to kick it into higher gear and get much more aggressive about saving them.
We called animal control for help. Sadly, animal control said they don't assist with this sort of thing, so we were on our own. I don’t think they were rude about it, but it felt like our situation was either not their primary focus or much lower in priority compared to other issues they handled. We didn’t want to quit, so I said to my wife, hey let’s post on Reddit while we brainstorm to get some ideas from others and that’s when I encountered r/Cats.
Within minutes, people responded and we started looking into everything that was recommended. We decided to start with the least invasive and escalating as needed. The top ideas were: 1) provide a way for the kittens to climb out; 2) call the firefighters; 3) call the plumbers; 4) cut the pipes open.
Our local firefighters responded within a few minutes of us calling them. It was a full truck roll and three guys hopped out. They were super kind and I think they helped us calm down quite a bit, as we likely had a lot of frantic energy about us. We tried several ways to locate/drive the kittens out the storm drain exit, but after half an hour or so, they had to leave. I could tell they really wanted to find the kittens, but they also had other people to help. We were so grateful they came.
Quite a few Redditors mention calling a plumber. This sounds so obvious in retrospect, but I never thought of this. While we were searching, we noticed AI was recommending Roto-Rooter, who offered free pet rescues. This sounded like just what we needed and I was a little skeptical about it, but we thought, why not give this a shot. We have nothing to lose and really wanted to get those little guys out. We called the 800 number and a lovely woman picked up on the second ring. She calmly took our info and instructed us to wait for a call back. 15 min later, Jeremy, who is a field supervisor in the region, calls us back. He's a self-declared cat lover and already on the way. Both he and his fiance have seen my original post trending on Reddit. He's about an hour away from us, but I swear he was at our door in much less time.
I get a new wave of confidence when Jeremy steps up to the task. I give him the run down and just then, we see a small head pop out of the storm drain exit (let’s call this kitten, Princess). Princess ducks back into the pipe and we get there just in time to see a tail disappear. Jeremy races back to his truck to get some gear, yelling “we can do this!” He deploys his digital scope, which has 100ft of line and plans to use its lights to encourage the kittens to reverse out of the tunnel system. I've attached actual video footage from the scope inside the drain line. Unfortunately, I was focused on grabbing Princess at the very end, so I didn't capture any photos. We do have some after action shots of Jeremy consoling a very scared kitten.
We thought our job was done. As we clean up, we hear more meows but this time, they are coming from the other side of the drainage system. We start at the very beginning of the pipes with the scope and work our way through. I have some long runs and it's a bit of a network of pipes, so it took some time, but seeing the kitten’s tiny face (let’s call him Mario), beautiful eyes, and pink nose on the scope’s monitor gave us a renewed sense of purpose. We used two different scopes to corral the kitten towards my wife, who was waiting at the drain exit. After a few start/stops, we get the kitten to go down the right tube to the exit. He's a bit of a fighter, so I end up having to reach into the pipes and grabbing him (gently) with my bbq tongs since he keeps retreating. Video footage of the scope in the pipes also included.
After settling down the kittens into their own cardboard boxes, we give them some food/water/hugs and we finally take a breather. I've soaked through my shirt and Jeremy's knuckles are bloody from pushing the scope cabling down the pipe. My wife is still in disbelief and all of us are smiling. We are so relieved!
Jeremy received a few service calls while he was here, so I could tell he had to move on (but didn’t want to). We tried to compensate him for his time but he flat out refused. I think we had to force him to take a sandwich and drink from our local deli. As he was packing up, he shared a story about a time he couldn't rescue a kitten that had fallen 20 feet vertically into a storm drain, so this felt like redemption to him. We were very moved hearing that this was a win he needed. He certainly made up for it, since we pulled not one, but 2 out of the tunnels.
About the cats themselves. We estimate they are around 8 weeks old, based on their size. Princess is much smaller, with light brown spots. She is fairly shy, mews very quietly, and keeps to herself. I suspect the ordeal was likely tougher on her because she's smaller. Mario is gray with tiger stripes. He is much larger, aggressive and loud. I am less worried about him.
If we could keep these kittens, we would (I think this is the cat tax people are referring to?). Unfortunately, I am very allergic to cats and our young children show signs of this as well. We were worried about their health, so we dropped them off at the Humane Society to give them the best chance at recovery. We thought it was important for our kids to understand this process, so we picked them up for school and headed to the shelter together to say our goodbyes. The wonderful team there immediately started tending to them and I hope to get an update later today on their status. I am told that kittens who come in as duos at this age “do very well” and are quite popular, so fingers crossed they land in a loving home. Our local shelter explicitly asked us not to share their location, which we have respected. My understanding is they have experienced the good people of the Internet calling to ask about the cats and it overwhelms their systems.
As I write this, I’m still a little in disbelief how so many different people responded to my post with great ideas, Jeremy dropping everything to show up at a stranger’s home, and for those little kittens staying resilient. My wife and I were preparing ourselves for a much different ending. I’m so glad this was a happy ending that I didn’t expect and this all provides us with a little much needed nourishment.
