'Miracle' cat survives huge fall from seventh-floor flat in Burmantofts

Carol Swanson, from Burmantofts, came home from work to find out her beloved American Shorthair named Sox had vanished, and feared the worst when she realised he may have fallen out of the window.

But, against all odds, Sox was found alive and nursing two broken paws. After surgery, Carol says Sox is now on the mend and is due to return home with his eight remaining lives this weekend.

On Monday night, Carol returned to her flat just after 8pm to find Sox was nowhere to be seen.

”I was devastated,” said Carol. “As soon as I realised that was the only way he could have got out of the flat, my heart just sank.”

One-year-old Sox, named due to his white paws having the appearance of a pair of socks, is an indoor cat, meaning he does not like to go outside.

It wasn’t long before she enlisted the help of her partner Chris, as well as her daughter Sarah to search for little Sox.

"We were searching in irrational places you would never look,” said Sarah. “We were panicking. He’s such a lively cat and he’s really nosey and always exploring."

The search took them outside, but with her flat on the seventh storey, Carol was fearing the worst.

“Where he fell out of the window, there are railings underneath,” she said. “Visions were going through my head that he had fell on the railings and I couldn’t bring myself to go out looking.”

Chris eventually found the cat curled up near the bin chute outside the building. When Sox was brought back up to the flat, they noticed his back leg was swollen and he had blood on his front leg.

"He was sat on the floor and he couldn’t walk,” said Carol.

Carol and Sarah took Sox straight to an emergency vet in Moortown, who looked after Sox before a five-hour surgery session on Friday.

"The vets said it was a miracle,” said Sarah. “They are convinced something must have broken his fall, but if you look where it happened, there is nothing to break his fall.

“It’s all about the recovery now – he’s got to stay still, so that is going to be a challenge in itself!

"We are normally very careful. The window was closed but it pushes quite easy. We think he has been playing and pushed it before falling out.”

Sarah said her mum did not have pet insurance for the cat and had little savings, meaning the £5,000 vet bill must now be paid for on a credit card.

"We thought that as he was an indoor cat, he wouldn’t have any road traffic accidents or things like that,” said Sarah. “It’s really worth looking into something and having that insurance in place. Trying to find that kind of money is so stressful.”

Carol said: “Recovery is going to be a long stretch but he’s a tough little thing. It shows if anything does happen, it’s not the end of the world for some cats.

"Sox will live a good life – we will be making sure of that.”

The family have set up a GoFundMe page to help them pay for Sox’s surgery.