A cat was stuck 20ft up a tree for up to NINE days after it hitched a ride to the tip.

Owner Raza Ayub, 36, thinks Maine Coon Snowy, two, jumped into a neighbour's car and was taken to the tip by accident the next morning, before escaping into nearby woods, and seeking refuge up a tree.

Raza and his daughter Aila, nine, from Bradford, Yorkshire, appealed for help on local Facebook groups and put up 50 posters.

Eventually a local saw Snowy up a tree.

The moggy refused to come down - so was helped to the ground by a tree surgeon, on March 31.

The family think she could have been up the tree for as long as nine days.

Raza, a mortgage advisor, said: "We were euphoric."

"We just wanted to sit at home and cuddle her all the time."

Snowy's family noticed she was missing when they got up for their Ramadan meal at 4am on March 22.

She was spotted at the tip two days later - and Raza spent days walking around at night, shouting her name.

The police stopped him once around 4am and were only convinced he wasn't a burglar when he showed them the bags of cat treats he was carrying.

The moggy was found up a tree and after five hours of coaxing the family found an animal-loving tree surgeon on Check-A-Trade.

"We were all in tears and clapping when he got her safely down", Raza said. "It was so overwhelming to know we would be taking her home again at last."