A cat is recovering at home after a river rescue ordeal that probably used up all his nine lives, his grateful owner has said.

Mandy Baker was oblivious to the action on Tuesday which saw a fleet of emergency services rush to the scene in Great Yarmouth where the unfortunate feline was stranded on a ledge.

She was alerted by an answerphone message from the RSPCA asking if she had a cat called Icicle and to call back urgently.

On hearing he had fallen in the river she immediately thought the worst and was stunned to hear he was alive and well and waiting to be brought home.

"I literally just came in from B&M," she said.

"I had not even got my coat off when I got the voicemail and the news he had fallen in the river.

"I got upset because I thought he had drowned, then I was overcome with shock that he was still alive.

"I just hope it does not happen again.

"I think he has used up all his nine lives now,"

Miss Baker said Icicle was an affectionate cat and that she was surprised he had wandered so far from her home in Patterson Close.

She had last seen him in the early hours of the morning and had noted he hadn't come in for breakfast.

When she picked him up he was cold and hungry and had slept for most of the day.

She had been advised to keep him in for 24 hours and said he was "nose to nose" with her other cat Shadow as they nuzzled up together.

The cherished pet - part of a menagerie including two dogs, a parrot, and a snake - was being treated to lots of fuss but was "spoiled rotten" at the best of times, she added.

She said she was hugely thankful for everyone's efforts, from the passer-by Alex Smith who raised the alarm to Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service who initially tried to rescue him and the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston RNLI lifeboat crew who picked him up as he struggled in the water.

"Words fail me," she said. "I am just so relieved. I cannot express how grateful I am."