The Whisler family heard the kitten's cries from inside their home. They soon discovered it was inside the fireplace vent, which was unknowingly uncapped.
The family tried to bang on the vent from inside the house to see if that would get the kitten to move. But the feline was stuck and not going anywhere.
Kass Whisler, her husband John and son Nate knocked a hole in the wall and then cut open the metal pipe to free the kitten.
The family decided to keep the little one.
They took the kitten to a local animal center where they were assigned to be its foster parents.
Since they found the kitten on Memorial Day, they decided to name it Murph after United States Navy SEAL Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Michael Murphy.
They wanted the cat's initials to be MDW, so they gave it a middle name too: Danger.