THE overjoyed owner of a blind cat has issued a heartfelt thank you to the community that came together to use voice recordings and infrared torches to spend 27 days hunting for her missing pet.

Jerry the black cat went missing on Canvey before Christmas and his lack of eyesight and complex medical needs left owner Laura Cobbett terrified he wouldn’t survive.

However, the community on the island banded together to carry out widespread searches, put up posters and even used recordings of 62-year-old Laura’s voice to try to coax him out.

Now, Jerry has been found in what Laura is branding a “miracle” after one of the residents who had spent week’s hunting found him on a doorstep curled up and “in a bad state” in May Avenue.

Laura, of Westerland Avenue, said: “I want to express how much everyone helped, the pet shop had a poster, the vet had a poster, and he wouldn’t have survived without everyone’s help.

“Jerry went missing on December 21, after foxes dug a hole in the garden, and he got out.

“There was fireworks that night and I thought ‘how could he cope’.

“It’s been a needle in the haystack search, how he coped I cannot imagine and if he had a camera on him, I would not be able to watch it, I do not know how he stayed alive.”

Laura, who is a Canvey Cat Watch moderator added that she often helps people look for their own pets so to receive widespread help was overwhelming.

“So many people helped, people were coming over on Christmas to ask about Jerry, asking to put posters up, coming over on New Years, one woman had a voice recorder and was asking for recordings of my voice to play to Jerry,” Laura said.

“I want to express how much it helped, he survived with people’s help.”

“I was running out of hope and this woman said an address where Jerry had been spotted and I went straight there, it was near a school, and she showed me where he was.

“He had an injured leg, and I couldn’t see his eyes, but I knew it was him and I was in another world as I was trying to coax him out from under a car.”