ALFIE the cat owes one of his nine lives to Kent firefighter Dave Osborne.

Dave brought the kitten back from the dead with the kiss of life after a rescue in Shadoxhurst, near Ashford, went horribly wrong.

And he revealed he was a big softy when it came to cats and even had a pet called Alfie himself.

The seven-month-old cat got himself stuck 30ft up a tree for the best part of three days and struggled so much during his rescue he ended up hanging from the tree by his neck and stopped breathing.

But, quick as a flash, and using all his emergency training, station officer Osborne flipped the kitty on his back and administered what the professionals call CPR – cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

He worked on the stricken moggy for a full five minutes until Alfie came round.

Delighted owner Chris Debnam said: "He gave Alfie the kiss of life there and then. He had stopped breathing and was effectively dead. If Dave hadn’t have persevered we would have lost our beautiful moggy forever."

Mr Osborne is the fire safety officer at Ashford station and had gone to Blind Groom’s Lane to assess the situation after the RSPCA requested a tree rescue.

After the kiss of life the hapless cat was rushed to an emergency vet in Hythe and put on a drip. He has now made a full recovery and is a mischievous moggy once again.

Dave, a district fire safety officer, was once involved in the rescue of an iguana and describes himself as a cat lover.

He said: "I had empathy with the situation which is why I tried so hard to get Alfie breathing. It took five minutes to get him back and I used exactly the same techniques as I would have done on a human."

Mrs Debnam said: "I went to the station and gave Dave a couple of bottles of wine and a thank you card from my daughters Sian and Alana. We really are so grateful."

Alfie has been banned from leaving the house until he masters the art of getting down from trees as well as getting up them.

"I am not letting him out of my sight," added Mrs Debnam. "He only has eight lives left!"