Cat causes a flap after becoming locked inside Mid Sussex dry cleaners

Tortoiseshell Abysinnian puss Inca stood at the glass door of Smarty’s Dry Cleaners in Hassocks and miaowed for help.

And passerby Harry Martin was quick to notice the pet puss’s plight and set about trying to locate the shop owner who had gone home after closing up for the day.

Following a frantic flurry on social media, dry cleaners’ owner Zacky Suhood was alerted and returned to free little Inca - who went back home next door to Hassocks Pet Centre unscathed by her ordeal.

Pet shop owner Steve Edgington - who looks after Inca along with 34 other cats - said: “I’ve never known Inca go into the dry cleaners before, but my other cats seem to like it.

“It’s quite warm in there and there’s some curtaining by the side of the door that they sleep on.”

And, he revealed, it was not the first time one of his feline brood had found themselves inadvertently trapped there. “Henry - a white fluffy Persian - got stuck in there once but hasn’t gone back.”

Steve, who has run Hassocks Pet Centre for the past 48 years - and who once found fame as the owner of the Guinness toucan - revealed that all of his cats are somewhat local celebrities.

“We have a cat lounge here where people can come in and sit down with the cats.”

And two of the friendly felines are ‘meet and greet cats,’ said Steve.

The duo - Clarence and Marcel - enjoy sitting outside the shop and ‘chatting’ to passersby who invariably stop to pet the twosome.