Firefighters used child's oxygen mask to resuscitate cat

A cat who was rescued from a blazing house was resuscitated by firefighters using a child's oxygen mask. Officers pulled the unconscious black cat named Sookee from the fire in Baluniefield Road, Dundee, after it had been overcome by smoke.

They fitted the oxygen mask over the elderly animal's face and it quickly regained consciousness. Another two cats and a dog were safely removed from the burning house on Sunday afternoon.

Joan Docherty, who owns Sookee and the other animals, said: "We weren't in. The cats couldn't get out because the cat flap is in the kitchen and they couldn't get past. The wee boys across the road were saying that the cats were clawing at the windows trying to get out and the dog was throwing herself at the door."



Neil McKay, from Tayside Fire and Rescue, said that when they arrived at the home, smoke was coming out all of the windows. As the crews pulled up they could see a cat trying to climb the blinds in the front room window and trying to get out of the window," he said. "But after a couple of attempts the cat was overcome and passed out.

"Crews applied the oxygen mask to the cat's head and started stroking it. It didn't work for a considerable time. Then they charged a second oxygen bottle and kept trying. Eventually the cat turned round and was sick, and got rid of a lot of soot and stuff it had breathed in during the incident."

Sookee, 16, spent the night at the vet, where he was given more oxygen and steroid injections.