A diving instructor was the unlikely hero as a cat’s life was saved.

A member of Crowthorne-based Divecrew rushed to the aid of Georgie the cat on Friday afternoon after it got into serious breathing problems as his owners Kate and Steve Lewis moved house from Frimley to Sandhurst.

The Lewises’ daughter Jo – who runs the home visiting vet clinic The Cat Vet – was on the scene, but after 90 minutes of providing oxygen to Georgie, her paramedic-sized cylinder was running into the red with the cat still struggling.

The vet said: “He got really, really stressed about being moved and he was in quite a bad way. To be honest, it was really emotional as we thought we might even have to say our goodbyes there and then.

“It was Friday afternoon so we couldn’t get oxygen in time from our normal supplier then we thought about Divecrew and then the call was made.

“You come up with some strange things in adversity!” After receiving the call, Divecrew co-owner Martin Weddell grabbed two emergency oxygen boxes which are used for diver training and was at the scene, in Frimley, within 10 minutes to help.

About an hour later, Georgie – who is aged about 17 and has advanced heart disease that can affect his circulation and breathing – was back in a stable position with the help of the extra oxygen.

Ms Lewis added: “They really did save the day. We were blown away by what they did for us and doing it all without a moment’s hesitation. They really were amazing.” Mr Weddell said: “Divecrew is an Emergency First Responder training centre, but generally we train the general public to undertake first aid on humans, not cats. We are so pleased we could help and we have been informed Georgie is now stable and getting back to his normal self.”