John DeBacker does not wear a mask or cape, but to one Long Island family, he is nothing short of a hero.
Wearing his “Catman” T-shirt, DeBacker carried out a delicate rescue mission to save Lola, a frightened and exhausted cat that had spent roughly five days trapped behind a wall in her family’s former home in the New York City suburbs. She was likely upside down for much of that time.
Lola’s ordeal started about two weeks before she was rescued. While her family was moving out of their second-floor apartment in Franklin Square, the cat slipped beneath a floorboard and disappeared.
That was when DeBacker and his rescue team were contacted.
DeBacker, who has rescued cats for at least 15 years, placed food and cameras near a trap in an effort to draw Lola out. But whenever she emerged at night, she avoided the trap.
The situation grew more desperate when Lola stopped appearing altogether. She had fallen and become trapped behind a wall on the first floor.
When rescuers located her, Lola was stuck upside down, chewing on insulation and growing weaker by the hour. DeBacker feared they might not be able to get her out alive.
Their fortunes changed last Friday. With assistance from a contractor, the team used an electric saw to begin opening the wall. An endoscopic camera soon gave them a clear view of Lola inside.
Because Lola appeared anxious, rescuers switched to a quieter drill to keep her from scrambling farther into the wall.
“After two weeks we did not want to lose the cat again,” he said.
Video from the rescue shows DeBacker reaching through the narrow opening and finding Lola’s hind legs. He then stood up, shifted his weight backward and slowly pulled the cat out in reverse.
“Safe!” a woman says in the video as the dusty, exhausted cat is placed inside a crate lined with towels.
After Lola was finally freed, DeBacker said the rescue brought him the greatest feeling in the world.
“We were all so happy,” he said.
“It’s pretty miraculous that the cat survived there five days with no food or water,” DeBacker said. “And when you’re upside-down, all the blood is rushing to your head.”
Lola was rushed to an emergency veterinarian, where doctors found insulation in her body, DeBacker said. She has since returned home to her family but is struggling with a poor appetite. Her owners have continued taking her to the vet as they try to determine what is wrong, he said.
DeBacker, who has four cats of his own, shared a warning for fellow cat owners preparing for a move: “Secure the cats first and not after all the moving. The moving will scare the cat into hiding.”
