A smile spread over Natale Fenech’s face when he laid down to sleep at home on Tuesday night after being discharged from hospital – he was happy to be alive after spending 22 hours in a well holding on to his dog, Fido.

“When I went to bed I started smiling and laughing to myself like an idiot and questioning if I was really alive,” he said.

His smile was even broader because he was reunited with Fido and Kikka, his other dog, who slept next to him after feasting on a dinner of macaroni he cooked especially for them.

“When you regain your life back you feel different. Before, like many people, I didn’t really appreciate life,” Mr Fenech said yesterday, as he sat in the living room of his Sliema house.

On October 31, Mr Fenech, 66, took his dogs to Pembroke for their usual walk. Fido fell into a well while chasing a rat.

The well was accessible by crawling under some slabs and, when Mr Fenech crawled in to rescue Fido, he fell and could not call for help since he had left his mobile at home.

He spent 22 hours standing on a rock, chin-deep in rat-infested water holding on to Fido while Kikka remained outside barking for help. A day later, an Englishman noticed Kikka and called for help.

He was taken to hospital while the dogs were taken in by the Animal Welfare Department. Meanwhile a woman called Claire, who he got to know during his Pembroke walks, helped look after the dogs.

When he was discharged on Tuesday, Claire took the dogs to Pembroke to be reunited with Mr Fenech who had left his car parked there.

“The second I opened the door of the car they jumped inside. They wanted to go home,” he said.

When he got home Fido looked at him with an expression suggesting he had done something wrong. “I think he realised what he did,” he said.

The following day he took the dogs for a walk to Pembroke but did not let them out of his sight.

On Friday evening, one week after the fall, as he went to bed he recalled the fear he felt as he tried to climb out of the dark, cold water. He also recalled a news camera crew “sticking a microphone” in his face while he being rescued, adding it was unfair on him.

“But it’s all behind me now and I just want to thank all those who helped me,” he said, calling on the Englishman to come forward so he could meet him.

He thanked the Civil Protection Department, Claire and the Animal Welfare Department, the ambulance crew and the hospital’s emergency department.

He also wanted to thank the police, “especially” PC 901– who waited for him to wake up in hospital to reassure him his dogs were being looked after.

“He gave me the best news ever,” he said, urging readers to adopt dogs “so long as they truly believe a dog is for life”.