RESIDENTS on a housing estate are being recruited to look for a missing cat.

Heather Bryan and her husband, Steve, have been out every day looking for Grace, a six-year-old grey and lilac Persian, who vanished from their Eaglescliffe home five weeks ago.

The couple have circulated posters with a photograph of the pet round the Orchard housing estate and put them up in shop windows.

The couple have trawled vets and police stations and have been entered on to the RSPCA's database.

"I have told the postman,'' said Mrs Bryan. "I have seen the milkman and told him. He asked 'what if I see the cat at 3am one morning?' I said 'knock on the door'.''

Residents of a nearby nursing home have also volunteered to watch out for Grace.

Mrs Bryan is also waiting for Junction Farm Primary School to reopen after Easter to see if Grace has sought shelter in one of the buildings.

Mrs Bryan said: "We thought we had made our back garden cat proof, but she has got out somehow. She has never tried to get out before.

"She is so nervous she does not go to other people.

"Our house backs on to a field and there are brambles on the back of the fence so she cannot get back into the garden, once she is out.

"And she does not know how to get round to the front of the house, because she has never been out of the house before.''

Mrs Bryan said: "Everytime you go out, you are looking: it doesn't matter where you go.''

Anyone spotting Grace is asked to call Mrs Bryan on (01642) 652305.