Cat nap sends kitten into a spin

CURIOSITY nearly killed the cat after a kitten climbed into a washing machine that was then switched on, it emerged today.

Eight-week-old Milo disappeared at Ginny Troth’s house in Astwood Bank, Redditch, Worcestershire, and bedded down in the laundry for a cat-nap.

But Mrs Troth, who had been searching for him, unwittingly switched on the machine for a spin wash.

Mrs Troth, 52, said she only realised where the inquisitive tabby might be about halfway through the cycle.

“I just felt sick,” she said. “I switched it off immediately and put it on to drain and started to pull out washing. He just appeared out of the middle of it and was in a pretty poor state.

“My daughter and I were both hysterical. We wrapped him in a towel and took him to the vet.”

Milo, who was bought as a 16th birthday present for Mrs Troth’s daughter Bonnie, could not open his eyes, had water on his lungs and was hypothermic.

Vets at the McGettigan and McGettigan practice in Redditch, who treated him last week, feared he might not survive.

But with regular treatment to his eyes, after about three days he had regained his appetite and was getting back to being his playful self.