Thanks ladies. For the record, I didn't go knocking doors (but wish I had) this morning, but I did search all the closest gardens where the cat disappeared, waking up a poor lady in the meantime. When I couldn't find an injured cat anywhere I hung up a note and went to work, and went door-knocking this afternoon. The cat had come home with injuries and got taken to the vets.

The searches I've done all claim that broken bones in cats heal relatively easily, so I'm hoping this is the case. The skin was not broken I'm sure, or the owners would have said so. But I am worried about damage to internal organs. I'm hoping that if the cat survived the day, the chances are that any internal injuries aren't that severe.

I gave the owner my email address and asked her to please keep me updated. *Crossing my fingers* I know this is minor in the grand scheme of things, but still I'm a bit worked up about this...

badger, you have quite a fighter there! That's inspiring.