Catt has only played one game for Bath since the World Cup

The 32-year-old has been out of action for five weeks as he struggles to overcome a chronic back injury.

Bath director of rugby John Connolly was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying Catt faced "a fight for his career".

But Catt told BBC Radio Bristol: "I'm far from looking to retire - in fact I'm probably only two weeks away from looking to play."

He added: "I'm not saying there's not a threat to my career but at the moment I'm not thinking about stopping, and the club have given me a break to make sure I'm fully fit for the rest of the season."

A Bath statement said: "Our goal is to have Mike back and fit in time for the Parker Pen Challenge Cup quarter-final second leg match at the Rec on 31 January, should we progess.

"Mike is a fantastic player and given our current injury crisis in the backs we desperately need him but won't rush him. We need to get Mike 100% fit."

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Catt is suffering with a recurrence of a nerve problem in his back that forced him to miss large chunks of last season.

The condition affects his hamstring, which he damaged a week after England's World Cup triumph when Bath played Leicester.

Time is running out to resolve the problem before the start of England's Six Nations campaign next month.

"The club have been fantastic about it," Catt told the Daily Mail.

"I've been given five or six weeks off to do a sort of mini pre-season in terms of getting myself right for the latter part of the season.