THEY say curiosity killed the cat . . . well, Houdini the nosy kitten had more than a lucky escape.Firefighters had to be called out twice after the inquisitive young feline decided to explore her new home – and got stuck among the kitchen plumbing.

THEY say curiosity killed the cat . . . well, Houdini the nosy kitten had more than a lucky escape.

Firefighters had to be called out twice after the inquisitive young feline decided to explore her new home – and got stuck among the kitchen plumbing.

Now her owners Craig and Karen Wiggins are faced with quite a few repairs to their kitchen, while the tiny dark tortoiseshell kitten is banned from the room.

"We don't know whether to name her Houdini or Lucky," said Mr Wiggins, of Burnham Close, Trimley St Mary.

"We'd only had her for a few hours. I got home from work in the afternoon and found a note saying beware, kitten loose in the house!

"Then about 3pm she came into the kitchen and shot under the units and disappeared. She managed to get up into where the pipes come down into the kitchen and we could not get her out.

"We tried and tried and then we thought she might be dead because we couldn't hear any movement at all."

Portworker Mr Wiggins drove down to Felixstowe fire station to ask the crews for some advice and they offered to come and have a look.

"They followed me back here in the fire engine, and they used a thermal imaging camera but could not find the kitten," he said.

By this time the family – the couple have three children, Daniella, ten, Josh, six, and Jacob, two – were quite distressed until Mrs Wiggins heard the kitten again.

"We called the fire service back and this time they took off all the tiles and the boxing around the pipes and there she was! I've got a few repairs to do now," said Mr Wiggins.

"The fire service were fantastic and I can't thank them enough – we would never have got her out without them. The children were really chuffed."