The night of October 5, a Mesa, Arizona, resident named Victoria Reese got a call from her boyfriend about a cat stuck in a dire situation. Over FaceTime, her boyfriend showed her a kitten he’d just come across who’d gotten stuck in an AC unit.
Reese, a cat lover who’s rescued several kittens throughout her life, knew she had to help. She rushed over to meet her boyfriend, and was terrified by what she saw when she arrived.
“Through FaceTime, I didn’t understand how severe the situation was,” Reese said on TikTok. “When I got there, she was stuck inside this 400- to 500-pound industrial AC unit, and it was really bad.”
The kitten’s head was sticking out of a hole in the unit too small to fit her body through. Reese and her boyfriend couldn’t tell how long the baby had been trapped there, but she clearly wasn’t doing well — she could barely move and her head was limp and lifeless.
Thankfully, the AC unit wasn’t plugged in and didn’t seem to be operational, so Reese and her boyfriend were able to maneuver it to try to free the kitten. They managed to flip the huge unit onto its side to try to grab the kitten from a different angle. Using olive oil and dish soap, they tried to slide her out, but nothing was working.
Desperate for help, they called the fire department. Reese and her boyfriend worked with a firefighter to push the kitten through the hole. Finally, after two hours of work, the kitten was freed.
“I’m just so glad that we were able to get her out and save her,” Reese said.
As soon as Reese got home with the kitten, she knew she just had to keep her. She decided to name her Olive, after the olive oil and Palmolive soap she and her boyfriend had used to get her out of the AC unit.
@baddboii69I’ll post more updates through out the day! Thankyou guys for so much love and support. I’ve been feeling a tad down due to really mean and hateful comments towards this little cutie. So many people mistreat cats and are so mean to them and it hurts my heart. Olive is doing so so well and is growing so fast!❤️#kittens#rescueanimals#rescuecats♬ original sound – caseeclipz
“This little cutie is now a part of our family forever,” Reese said.
Reese took Olive to the vet, who told her that the kitten just 2 weeks old. Getting stuck in the AC unit had taken quite a toll on Olive, which meant she would need extra care. Thanks to Reese’s love and attention, Olive has grown by leaps and bounds in just a few days.
“She’s learning how to walk properly and is starting to play a little bit,” Reese said. “Seeing her grow so fast is making me so emotional.”
Now that Olive is safe and sound in Reese’s home, Reese has been enjoying pampering and spoiling her as much as possible. Olive spends most of her time wrapped up in a cozy, warm blanket. Soon, the AC unit Reese and her boyfriend rescued her from will be nothing but a distant memory.
