A FAMILY has been left devastated after their beloved pet ran away and has now been missing for several weeks. 

Yonna Madine, from Parton near Whitehaven, and her son are 'heartbroken' after their pet cat Gizzy ran away on a trip to the vets. 

Gizzy went missing on Christmas Eve, December 24, and Yonna, along with her family and friends, have been searching desperately. 

Ms Madine said: "It all started on Christmas Eve, there were no vets in Whitehaven, so I had to go through to Egremont. 

"I put Gizzy in the carrier, I don't know what happened but when I was getting him out of the car the door went loose at the bottom and off he shot. 

"I was parked at the back of the Coop in Egremont, initially I just went running after him and shouting and asking these people who were passing by, and they hadn't seen him at all. 

"I came back home as I live in Parton, and I told my son who was devastated because we both love him. 

"My son went back to Egremont, and we printed some posters and flyers. We put 600 flyers out and put posters up. We've spread the word on Facebook, and we've done everything really. 

"A lady has said that he had been sighted in certain places and so made a trap to try to coax him in. 

"The trouble is that there's a lot of black and white cats around and when they've been seen it's turned out not to be Gizzy. 

"My son's been in Egremont every night looking for him and his friend has been helping with posting flyers. 

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"Lots and lots of people have helped to look for him. I'm devastated but my friends have been good and have also been helping, I'm at my wits' end, he's a really lovely cat."

Yonna says that she wants to spread the word and get more people involved with the search for Gizzy.