This kitty sure landed on his feet.
A ginger cat living in a Midtown supportive housing building fell three stories during an apartment fire last week – and miraculously survived.
Goldie the cat was apparently trying to flee the flames on a windowsill, when he plummeted to the sidewalk on West 43rd Street as a firefighter reached out in an attempt to save him, video of the blaze showed.
The 6-year-old feline used up at least one of his nine lives as he suffered a broken hip, deep scrapes and a split lip – though fortunately, he has no broken bones.
The local nonprofit The Animal Project is raising the $1,500 for the cat’s medical bill for the owner in an online GoFundMe.
“I felt so bad for the guy, because he clearly loves the cat, and he knew that he doesn’t have the resources to get it any medical care,’” said Midtown local Tiff Winton, who “independently” rescues animals in the area – including a bodega cat left for five weeks in a shuttered deli last summer.
“We were expecting way worse injuries,” said Diandra Coke, a vet tech at Brilliant Veterinary Care, where Goldie is being treated. “He’s kind of a miracle cat . . . it’s pretty rare to see so few injuries from a fall that high.”
Winton, who happened to be three blocks from the fire, received a video of the cat plummeting Sunday from a third-story unit at The Times Square, a converted grand hotel that now provides stable housing for the formerly homeless.
Upon seeing the footage, Winton said she “ran over there” to the scene where firefighters were still fighting flames.
The Midtown resident was escorted by a firefighter to Goldie’s owner, Elliott, who was “in shock completely” and “could barely speak,” Winton said.
“He just sort of reached his arms out to me and handed me the cat, and he was crying, and he was like, ‘Hey, I hope he’s okay.’”
The fundraiser for Goldie has amassed nearly $600, or 40% of its goal to date, which will go toward medical expenses like sedation, stitches, medication and ongoing care.
Any leftover funds will go towards living costs like cat food, litter, a collar and more, Winton said.
While Elliott was able to return to his apartment after the blaze, he has yet to be reunited with Goldie, who is in recovery at a clinic on the Upper West Side.
The owner doesn’t even have a cell phone to stay in contact with the vets patching up his four-legged friend, Winton added, but is grateful nonetheless for the nonprofit covering the costs of Goldie’s recovery.
The orange tabby cat is currently on crate rest for two weeks and is slated to stay in Hell’s Kitchen with Winton’s teen sidekick Kim Corrigan until Elliott can take him back in about a week.
“[Goldie is] subject to infection, so we just want to make sure while he’s in this recovery period that if anyone goes wrong, we can treat it right it way,” said Kelly Mahoney of The Animal Project, “and make sure when we deliver Goldie back to his loving owner, who’s hit hard times, that he’s in 100 percent good condition.”
“He’s had Goldie since he was a kitten. There’s so much love for the cat – he calls him his son,” Winton added.
“Even the night of the fire, when he handed him to us he was like, ‘Please, help my cat.’ It was so sad. It’s the right thing to reunite them when he’s better.”