A cat owner who climbed a tree to rescue her pet found herself in the same boat after she also became stuck and had to be saved by firefighters.

Maria Parry’s husband was forced to dial 999 after she became stranded 12 feet up the tree while trying to rescue her cat, Harry.

The nursery nurse, 34, who is scared of heights, tracked down Harry on Thursday, three days after he went missing from her house in Fareham, Hampshire.

She said: “I heard this meow, this scared meow, so I went over to the neighbour’s garden and saw him in the tree.

“I climbed up the tree by instinct. He was shaking, I just wanted to comfort him.

“He actually fell asleep when I got to him. When I reached up I could stroke him.”

But Maria said she realised she was also stranded when the wind picked up and branches started swaying, so she called her husband.

“He asked if I could come down and I thought, ‘right, I can’t talk because I’m actually scared now’,” she said.

“I didn’t realise I was really high up.”

She said he left work to help and arrived 15 minutes later, then phoned the fire brigade, adding: “I don’t think they were that bothered until they heard I was up there too.

“I think now it’s actually funny – but when I was up there it wasn’t.”

Parry ventured up the tree after borrowing a cat box from a neighbour, Deborah Baxter, a hypnotherapist who works from home.

She spent 45 minutes stranded before firefighters eventually helped her down with a ladder.

Baxter said: “She was really distraught and said, ‘oh, my cat’s up your tree’.

“He was in next door’s tree, so I said, ‘go around and take the basket with you’.”

But she grew concerned when she went to check on Maria 45 minutes later – and could only find the basket on the ground.

She said: “I looked out the back window and I just saw my cat basket and thought, ‘no cat, that’s strange’.

“I realised the cat was still up the tree. They were both there. Maria was up there I don’t know how long.”

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue spokesman said it sent a crew to rescue the pair.

He added: “A cat was stuck up a tree and its owner had gone up to rescue it and also become stuck.

“The pair were rescued using a short ladder.”

Maria said she had only adopted Harry seven weeks before he went missing.