When a strange sound starts emanating from your home, it’s not usually something you stick around to find out about. But a German man decided it was best to investigate the noise. In the middle of the night. He traced the sound to his recently poured concrete garage floor. And there it was, a sound coming up from beneath the new floor.

He finally knew what it was he was hearing – meowing. And then he knew he needed to call the police. Just down the street, however, was his neighbor, Meike Vielsack, who had been searching for her lost cat, Jimmy. And once the police confirmed the man’s suspicion that he had a cat beneath his floor, he called Meike.

Meike and her cat, Jimmy. Photo from the family

It had been unusual, Meike said, for Jimmy to stay outside for long.  “He’s usually outside for no longer than a few hours,” she said. “After two days, we started hanging flyers, putting a post on Instagram and asking neighbors whether they could take a look to see if they accidentally locked him in somewhere.” It was nearly two weeks later that she finally found out her cat’s fate.

When her neighbor called, she learned Jimmy hadn’t gone far at all.  “He told me that there is a cat stuck under his garage, and as he knew that mine was missing he already guessed that it could be him,” Meike said. She rushed over and as soon as she heard his meow, she knew it was Jimmy.

I was there and he started to meow,” Meike said. “I immediately recognized his voice.”

Meike works to coax Jimmy out from the concrete floor. Photo from the family

How the cat had managed to get himself stuck, no one knew. “There’s a cavity that runs along the rim of the concrete slab, but how Jimmy ended up sealed within it is anyone’s guess,“ she said. “I’m pretty sure he hid from the workers or was busy looking for a mouse,” Meike said. “Then they put the earth and foundation at the rim so he was stuck.”

Thankfully, workers were able to open up a hole in the concrete that would allow Jimmy to make his way out. But Meike had to work to convince the poor cat to come out. After nearly three days stuck, Jimmy was traumatized and quite hungry.  “He was afraid at first but eventually he came out after about 10 hours of waiting,” Meike said. “I was really scared that I would have to watch him die in there.”

After Jimmy finally made his way out to his relived owner, she rushed him to the vet. Thankfully, she was told that Jimmy was going to be fine, other than he had lost some weight. Now Jimmy is back home where he belongs — and Meike couldn’t be more relieved. “I think that was the saddest two weeks of my life,” she said. “It’s crazy that he’s still alive, but I’m so happy.” Watch below for Jimmy’s rescue.