NALA the nine-year-old cat was today hailed a feline miracle after surviving under floorboards for three weeks.

The moggy was trapped under a bedroom floor, unknown to the owner of the house Peter Williams, of York Street, Colne.

Nala's owner, Paulene Hargraves who lives further down York Street, is now pampering her pet with endless saucers of water and milk.

Peter, 57, discovered the cat with the help of another moggy after hearing a faint meowing over a period of weeks.

Peter, who is disabled, said: "Every time I came through the door I could hear the noise. It sounded like it was coming from next door's cats so I took no notice.

"While I was watching TV I could hear rubble falling down between the cavities but never gave it much thought.

"It was only when Grant, a tomcat who visits regularly, came in and went straight to the corner of the bedroom that I followed and the meowing was really loud.

"Some work had been done near the radiator and I asked for the floor boards not to be put back in case they needed to be lifted again.

"Below them was this sooty, grubby, wide-eyed, emaciated moggy. It must have been struggling to get out for weeks.

"Grant hissed and snarled and I thought that wasn't much of a way to greet a friend!"

Mother-of-four Paulene said Nala went missing three weeks ago.

"We went up and down the street asking people whether they had seen her.

"My husband did some work in Peter's house a while ago and opened up a cavity. I think before he sealed it she has somehow got in."

"It feels like a miracle. Three weeks is a long, long time. We had just about given up. Now she is getting lots and lots of love."

A spokesman from the RSPCA said: "This sounds like an extraordinary case, although cats are very resilient creatures.

"She would have found rodents to eat but I don't know where a water supply would have come from."

Nala must now be filed under the headline Amazing Cat -- but there are others:

In May, 2001, Felix survived a three-week journey from Israel to the West Midlands inside a shipping container by drinking condensation from the walls.

He was named after the port of Felixstowe, where he was found.

In April, 2001 a cat survived a ten-minute spin in a tumble dryer at a sweltering 80 degrees. The cat escaped the ordeal in Cornwall with only singed whiskers. The owner of the tumble dryer found the cat, which had walked into the house from the street, after she heard a clunking noise.

In July, 2000, the RSPCA found a lost cat 100 miles away from its home.

Emma was discovered in a garden in Fleet in Hampshire and was returned to its happy owners in Rushden in Northamptonshire. Emma was especially lucky. She had been microchipped. Possibly her owners were psychic!