Cat survives five weeks trapped in summerhouse

After more than a month without a trace, distraught Lorraine Cook feared she would never see her beloved cat again. But the mother-of-two is celebrating after ten-year-old Tamba finally returned home after spending the last five weeks trapped in a neighbour’s summerhouse. Miss Cook, of Trimley St Martin, near Felixstowe, Suffolk, first realised something was wrong when Tamba failed to return home in the evening and she said the cat’s return was nothing short of miraculous.

“I have no idea how she managed to survive that long,” said the 41-year-old, “we’re amazed.” She said it was still a mystery how Tamba managed to survive and how she managed to get into the summerhouse in the first place. The summerhouse has a cat flap and she believes it is possible Tamba could have gone through it and then it locked behind her so she could not get out – leaving her to fend for herself.



One of the theories as to how the family pet survived is that she licked the condensation off the windows. Miss Cook added: “We started to give up hope because we were thinking if she was shut in somewhere, she wouldn’t survive. She was really skinny and when she got back we took her to the vets but she seemed to be OK.

“I personally think she either went in when the door was open or she went in through the cat flap. She must be using up all her nine lives – I honestly don’t know how she managed to survive for so long without food. I would imagine she maybe licked condensation off the windows.” Tamba returned home after Miss Cook’s neighbour saw her in the summerhouse.