A FAMILY cat is still missing, despite a team of pet detectives coming to town to help in the search.

The pet, named Gigi, who was last seen near Old Town on November 15, has a thick ringed tail and spots on her side.

A team of pet detectives from Animal Search UK, led by former police officer Tom Watkins, have been in Old Town putting up posters and door-knocking in an attempt to find her.

They came equipped with walkie-talkies, rescue traps, torches and police-style patrol vehicles.

The company launched 12 years ago and now has 800 visitors a day to its free website.

Gigi’s owner, Yvonne Haynes, of South Street, said: “I am devastated at the moment, I can’t believe she is gone.

“It is not something she would normally do.

“We think she has either been chased off by a tom cat or a fox that often goes down South Street, and she has got lost.

“I have been out looking for her since she went missing on dawn patrols and out in the evening, but I’ve had no luck.

“She is chipped and is logged as missing so if she is handed in anywhere we would know.”

This is not the first time the Pet Detectives have been to Swindon.

Peter and Joanne Henderson, of Stratton, called in Animal Search UK’s professional search-and-rescue team after their dog Benjie went missing in January.

The couple were successfully reunited with their pet who was found in the garden of an Adver reader in the Lawn area.

Yvonne is hoping for a similar happy ending.

”I was just getting very upset when I was out searching. Whenever I stopped someone to ask, I was bubbling up.

“They have been really good and I am very impressed.

“I think it is the impersonal aspect of it as well, people can go to them anonymously if they have any information, even if it is bad news which they might not want to tell me directly.

“I just want to know something either way. I hope she is well but someone must know something.”

Anyone with information about Gigi’s whereabouts should call 0800 4320340 and quote reference 45049.