Tiki might have lost his sight, but he’s incredibly crafty. This fortunate elderly cat has had quite the experience recently.

This past weekend, the black-and-white kitty managed to sneak out of his Massachusetts home and embarked on an unforgettable winter adventure that one Good Samaritan will always remember.

“I was so anxious! It was pure madness,” Dawn Felicani from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, described the shocking moment she discovered the cat on the icy waters of Nabnasset Lake. “I don’t know what made me look over, but I’m just thrilled that cat is still alive.”

Around 10 a.m., this real estate agent was headed to her job in Westford when she spotted Tiki precariously walking on thin ice, about 30 to 40 feet from the shore.

“I thought, is that really a cat? It was freezing that day with the harsh wind,” she recounted to YSL News.

Panicking, she quickly called Westford Animal Control for help.

Officer and Inspector Kirsten Hirschler picked up the call.

Help was en route.

<p”It was just circling and circling. You could tell the ice wasn’t solid, so I started to panic,” Felicani said of the long-haired Tuxedo cat. “Then I heard the cracking sound and thought, ‘He’s going in!'”

‘His little head was sticking out’

Nearby, two individuals working on a house were drawn to the chaos and jumped in to lend a hand.

“I could see his little head sticking up,” Felicani mentioned, capturing pictures of the long-haired Tuxedo cat before and after his fall into the water.

Nate Puza from Townsend, Massachusetts, grabbed a shovel and a small boat from a neighboring residence.

Kris Seymour from Holden, Massachusetts, pushed the boat as far as he could towards Tiki.

Puza managed to shovel the ice as he advanced over the surface, as animal control officers later detailed.

“He was quickly able to reach the cat and lifted him from the icy water just before he would have definitely succumbed to the extreme cold,” Hirschler later stated in a press release.

Tiki was taken inside, wrapped in towels and blankets, shivering and dazed.

Hirschler noted that the cat was neutered. When they took him to a vet, his body temperature was so low it didn’t even register on the thermometer, and the officers started searching for his owners.

That afternoon, a local resident contacted officers to say that their cat, Tiki, had gone missing sometime late Sunday night or early Monday morning.

“They were able to confirm its identity and told us that not only is Tiki 20 years old, but he is blind too,” Hirschler wrote in a press release.

On Thursday, Hirschler informed YSL News that Tiki was back home safely with his thankful family, which includes a husband, wife, and their children.

‘Stuck on ice floating through the night’

According to Hirschler, it’s believed that Tiki was possibly chased onto the ice by a coyote the previous night, which left him stranded on the ice overnight.

“This entire story is miraculous from beginning to end,” Hirschler remarked. “Without a doubt, we wouldn’t have been able to reach him in time to save this old cat!”

What is the safe thickness of ice for walking?

While Tiki may not understand it, authorities indicate that ice on lakes, rivers, and ponds is never completely safe.

It is recommended that the ice on ponds and lakes should be at least 5 inches thick for activities like fishing, skating, and walking, and a minimum of 8 inches for snowmobiles and off-road vehicles.