People in the neighborhood were trying to get it out, but had no luck until late Thursday night.
The cat was apparently trapped in a Bay Ridge sewer for at least four days, ever since Anna Kefalonikas first heard its cries.
"Something told me to look there, in the gutter and there it was looking up and crying," Kefalonikas said.
Anna's daughter Lia, made the video with her phone, while her mother and friend Dagny Kula lowered some food and water down to the cat.
"We can't leave the cat there. And now with the heavy rain we are devastated," Kula said.
Dagny and Anna say they have fed the cat and others for years, which some neighbors object to.
"If you're going to feed them, then feed them down on your own property. That's all I'm asking," a neighbor said to Kefalonikas.
Over the last couple of days, numerous city agencies were called.
Some could offer no help.
Lia posted efforts on Facebook. Others did try to budge the thick heavy grate.
"Two firemen, one on each side were trying to bring it up. They couldn't bring it up. This thing weighs 400 pounds.
One man took matters into his own hands trying to pry around the grate.
Then, an NYPD Emergency Services Unit and other officers moved in.
First, a car parked over the grate was rolled out of the way.
With a growing crowd of neighbors watching, the officers with large hooks tried to pull the grate with no luck.
Then more heavy equipment arrived.
A hole was cut into the grate and officers lowered a camera down into drain and up the pipe but could not spot the cat, who some believe scampered back up into a vast system of pipes.
"I think we're about to save a life. Thank you everybody. We all did our part," Kefalonikas said.
Kefalonikas told Eyewitness News late Thursday night that the cat finally came out of hiding and jumped out the hole that was cut in the grate and ran free.
