Earlier this week, Andrea Wright let her cat, Mr. Elliott, outside for some air. 

It isn't often that Mr. Elliott goes outside, but it also isn't rare; however, Mr. Elliott never came home and was nowhere to be found.

"It was misisng," said Lakeland Fire Chief Manny Falcone. "They had been putting food out for the cat, so they though they had smelled something maybe the cat going to the bathroom in the area. They knew it was close."

Perhaps, closer than they thought. 

When the owners opened up the hood of their car, to their surprise was Mr. Elliott's tail. That's when Wright called in first responders.

"You can see the head from the inside of the door," said Falcone. "When you look through the door opening, but you couldn't grab it. I said let's get the rest of the guys over here. We had to carry tools on our heavy rescue to be able to lift the car up appropriately and that's when we made the decision to lift the front end of the car up, pull the wheel off and take apart the wheel well skirting of the car, pull it down and bring the cat out that way there."

Reunited, feeling oh so good, after a good cleaning of course. Now, all is back to normal.

"It's home. Merry Christmas. Everyone is happy," said Falcone.

Mr. Elliott's owners say they are grateful for all the first responders who helped and happy to have their little guy home.