CATS are famous for having nine lives - but on Friday the 13th, pet moggie Shiva was really pushing its luck . . .

For Shiva plunged 60ft from the window of a fifth-floor flat in Manchester, leaving owner Brian Smith fearing the worst.

Brian looked out of the window and then dashed down the stairs of the 13-storey tower block in Gorton, but couldn't see her and feared that she was badly hurt . . . or dead.

He and his friends spent hours searching frantically for Shiva, who is named after the Hindu god of destruction.

But it wasn't until the following day that they finally found her - limping, but alive and remarkably well.

X-rays later showed the four-year-old cat had suffered a broken front leg and shoulder.

But telesales worker Brian, 33, reckons that it could have been far worse.

Lucky

He said: "She was very lucky, because cats can have injuries such as breathing difficulties and back problems from falls from much lower than that."

"Shiva's a housecat and quite used to sitting on the window sill.

"It is normally open just a fraction, but something happened to disturb her, we think maybe a bird flew past, and she managed to push herself out.

"I was terrified.

"I was absolutely delighted to finally find her.

"It looked like she was more traumatised to be outside in the rain than by her fall."

Vets have now put Shiva's leg in a splint and given her painkillers. But Brian and partner Leah Graham, who shares the flat near Smithfield Market, need to find money to pay for an operation that will help Shiva make a full recovery.

The couple have been told that £900 is needed to place steel pins in the cat's legs and are looking for help from the RSPCA and other animal charities.

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