A beloved pet cat was saved from a ravenous python that was trying to eat it for breakfast in Thailand.

The moggie was taking a nap when the mammoth 16ft serpent pounced on it in the grassy yard in Chachoengsao on June 2.

The feline yowled as the beast coiled tightly around its body, squeezing the air out of its lungs.

Housewife Sirikarn Thongsinchaiwong, 41, said she was in the kitchen when she heard the pained noises. She rushed outside and screamed when she found the predator crushing the family pet to death.

She said: 'I saw the snake wrapped around my cat and panicked. I yelled for my husband and together we beat it with sticks until it let the cat go.'

The distressed feline managed to escape, but the python then slithered into a large water container behind the family's wooden stilt house.

Sirikarn slid the lid shut and called snake wranglers for help at 7:30 am.

Footage shows officers opening the container to find the monstrous snake soaking in rainwater inside. They plunged a pole into the jar and fished out the bulky reptile when it wound itself around the equipment.

The python was sealed in a sack and was later released away from the residential area.

Sirikarn said: 'I was terrified of the snake, but I knew I had to act fast if I wanted to save my pet. Luckily, my husband and I managed to fend it off before it could the cat.'

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.