DARING Chloe the cat used up one of her nine lives after surviving six weeks stuck down a chimney.

Marion Wood, 75, went to visit her family in Vietnam in December and arranged to leave her two cats, Chloe and Honey, in a pet cat kennel outdoors with her neighbours feeding and taking care of them.

Sadly, Honey died when she was knocked over by a car two weeks before the trip.

Mrs Wood said: “We lost Honey, and two days after we got to Vietnam we had a call from my neighbour, who said that Chloe had gone missing and the last time she was seen was on the roof.

“Nobody could find her; they looked for days everywhere, trawled through farmers' fields and searched high and low.”

Marion then returned home with husband Patrick last Saturday. On Sunday morning she was upstairs when she heard a faint meow coming from behind the sealed up fireplace in the spare bedroom.

She added: “At first I thought I was just jetlagged and imagining things but then I heard it again. I shouted for Patrick and we cut the fireplace open and found Chloe.

“She was half-dead; emaciated and couldn't see anything.

“We brought her downstairs and gave her some water and my neighbour Tammy Parkins, who works for Castle Vets, agreed to take her into the vets that morning.”

Staff at the vets fed Chloe every two hours, even coming in when the practice was closed, and on Sunday the vets said Chloe had a 50/50 chance of survival.

On Monday her chances dropped to 70/30 but now just three days later she is back at home after beating all the odds.

Mrs Wood, from Stoborough near Wareham, says the staff Castle Vets in Poundbury saved Chloe's life.

Marion said: “It's amazing that a cat could survive without any food or water for six weeks. The fireplace had been sealed up for at least 20 years.

“She must have been determined to get in the house while we were away and this was clearly the only way she thought she could do that.

“A massive thank you must go to Castle Vets; if they hadn't been so helpful we could now be telling a very different story.”