CAT lover Jacqueline Hood feared that curiosity had killed her playful tabby after it went missing without trace for SIXTEEN days. Mrs Hood was distraught after Lucy Bea, aged six, could not be traced despite desperate searching by friends and neighbours around Little Lever. But her misery turned to joy and disbelief when Lucy Bea was found bedraggled but alive inside a steel drum locked in her next-door neighbour's garage in Aintree Road.

Mrs Hood said: "We really began to despair and feared the worst. We really don't know whether she was next-door all the time or whether she'd wandered off first.

"Apparently cats can't go longer than 14 days without food and they certainly can't go that long without water.

"But Lucy Bea is a remarkable cat. "She's very lively and very, very curious - she loves to go for a ride on my wheelchair! She's more than a cat, she's a friend and I'm so grateful she's back."

Lucy Bea was checked over by a vet who feared that her kidneys could be damaged but so far the tabby is making a good recovery.

Mrs Hood added that Lucy Bea had gone missing before, but never for very long.

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