A woman watched in horror as her cat jumped off a 30ft high school building after being stuck on its roof for two days.

Mandy Wooding came home on Sunday to find her cat Hemlock stuck on top of the science block at Mayfield Grammar School in Pelham Road, Gravesend.

She said: “We were away at the weekend celebrating our son’s wedding and we left the cat door open for somebody to pop in and check on them for us.

“We got home on Sunday evening and one of the cats didn’t come in, but that’s not completely unusual in the summer.”

On Monday morning (September 11) Mandy could hear meowing and so her husband Chris walked round to the nearby grammar school with the caretaker and they saw Hemlock on top of the science block.

“Its a 30ft two-storey block that backs onto our garden,” she said. “We have no idea how he got up there.”

After they were unable to get Hemlock down, the couple called the fire service – but were told they couldn’t come out without RSPCA authority.

After calling the RSPCA, someone attended but Mandy says she never saw or spoke to them, and because they did not see or hear Hemlock they left.

She explained: “We were at a bit of a loss. We tried to get up there with a friend but couldn’t. The school staff were fantastic in trying to find a way to get him down.

“He was up there for two nights. One of them was rainy and the other one was a baking hot day. Monday’s heat was exhaustive.

“At the end of the day, I suggested to my husband that we ring 999 because we’d exhausted every possible way of doing it as a non-emergency.

“They said they couldn’t come out but put my husband through to a local charity.”

The charity called a fire crew to come to the school on Tuesday morning to get two-year-old Hemlock down.

Mandy said: “As this poor young fire officer went to lift the cat up and put him in the cat basket, he jumped and fell with four firemen watching him.

“He was twisting and turning through the air and fell 30ft to the ground. It was horrifying.

“He ran at the wall three times and eventually got over and went back home. He is bruised and a bit battered with a grazed chin but nothing is broken. He’s eating and drinking and no limbs seem out of place.

“He’s quite subdued and he’s got a sore throat because he’s spent 48 hours meowing. We spent two nights unable to sleep because we could hear him.”

The couple, who have five cats in total, say they are disappointed at how the RPSCA handled the situation and have made a formal complaint.

She said: “It’s an organisation that is supposed to help. Every time we called the cat he popped his head over and at no point did the RSPCA try and contact us.”

An RSPCA spokesman said: “Often when cats have climbed up high somewhere like a tree or onto a roof, they will come down of their own accord in time, and we always advise people to monitor them and give them a chance to do this on their own or try tempt them down with strong smelling food like fish.

“Our animal rescue officer did attend the scene of this incident and made attempts to locate the cat but despite an extensive search they could not find the pet.

“They left details with the school to contact them if the cat was seen again so they could return and deal with the situation.

“We are pleased to hear that the cat is now safely down from the roof.”