A KITTEN has made a miraculous recovery after it was plucked from the ashes of a fire at Walkhampton.

Found by firefighters a day after the barn blaze last month but showing little signs of life, the kitten was revived by vets in Horrabridge who spent four hours pumping her with IV fluids and wrapping her in blankets to increase her body temperature.

Vet Ulrika Hoffmann-Johnson, of Town Farm Vets, said 'Cinders' as she has been aptly named, was one lucky girl.

'She was half dead when the firefighters found her between the hay bales. From the burns it was obvious she had been there the whole time during the fire but she was also wet from the water used to put out the fire and cold and hypothermic after a very cold night.

'We tried warming her up but her body temperature was so low it would not register on the monitor,' said Ulrika.

'Finally, after about four hours she started to show some signs of life. The next hours and days were critical because there may have been secondary injuries.'

A week later Cinders' fur and skin started to drop off due to the burns but by this time she was receiving intensive care from nurse Rachel Payne, whose own cat had to be put down a few weeks before because of kidney failure.

Rachel said: 'I took her home and put her in my bedroom in a crate with a heater and gave her fluids every night. The next day she got the all clear from the vets and she has been at home with me ever since.'

Cinders' ears were badly burned, as was the right side of her face, her nose and the tips of her toes but she is now beginning to heal.

'She still has a few bald patches but she is acting like a normal kitten now, running around and leaping on you when you're asleep,' added Rachel.

Practice staff paid tribute to the firefighters who rescued and tried to revive the kitten and had visited the practice since to see how she was doing.

Firefighter Tony Smith, who found the kitten buried under mud and straw, said Cinders had definitely used up a few of its nine lives: 'It's been burnt, drowned and crushed so it is a very lucky cat. It is nice to have a happy ending.'