CATS fans thought they went through the wringer on Friday night.

But nothing could compete with the sad and sorry soaking that Burmese kitten Suki suffered after being trapped through a full-wash cycle in her family's front-loading machine.

The seven-month-old kitten was soaked, washed, rinsed and then spun dry after apparently stretching out for a cat nap on a full load of dirty linen.

The first that owner Liz Fear knew of the cleaning catastrophe was when she reached in to pull washed clothing from the big machine to find a piece of saturated fluff that looked like the fur-ball normally left in the lint filter.

"I lifted her limp and lifeless body out and she was really cold and colourless and I held her in my arms," Ms Fear said.

Ms Fear, husband Tony and their children Charlotte, 13, twins Harry and Amelia, 11, and James, 8, had been watching the Cats slug out the 2010 preliminary final against Collingwood when Suki was noticed missing.

"She's more like a dog and always under your feet. The kids had asked where she was," Ms Fear said.

"But we just thought she was taking time out somewhere and - doing four loads of washing a day - I just closed the machine door after the kids had put their clothes in and didn't think any more about it."

Fearing their pet at death's door, the parents left their children at home to rush Suki to a Fitzroy vet and then for specialist treatment at Advanced Vet Care in Kensington.

"She was in real trouble, with swelling above each eye, obvious minor brain trauma from repeatedly having her head banged against the sides of the machine, purple gums and membranes from shock, fluid on her brain from the bashing and water on her lungs, almost undetectable body temperature from hypothermia and severe diarrhoea from ingesting detergent," said clinic owner Sam Snelling.

Suki was warmed on a hot air forced blanket, dried and then placed in an oxygen-rich humidicrib.

"It is testament to a cat's abilities to survive against the odds that Suki had probably not been initially expected to survive but pulled through the night," Dr Snelling said.

"By midnight on Friday she able to sit up, at 5am she was sniffing food and then the next morning, she was walking on her own feet, albeit a bit wobbly."

Dr Snelling said Suki faced scarring on her lungs from the detergent.

But he said she also owed her life to the front-loading machine.

"There would have been a lot less water in it than a top-loader so there would have been air around her," he said.

Suki continues to be monitored but is expected to make a full recovery.

Originally published as Suki stuck in a spin