Tearful owner reunited with cat after eight years

A pet owner says she burst into tears when she saw her missing cat for the first time in eight years.

Ian, a black and white "tuxedo" cat, had been "living off the kindness of neighbours" after vanishing from his family's Wiltshire home when they moved, staff at a local cattery said.

The 10-year-old animal was brought into Purton Cattery at the weekend after one of his regular feeders moved away, leading to staff putting out an appeal on social media in a bid to track down his family.

Ian's owner, Claire Jerome, said she had "never given up hope" and having him back home again was "amazing".

After Ian went missing, she said she initially went back to her old Swindon house every day to try and find him, but "had no joy".

When her father and a friend told her about the Facebook appeal, she said she cried because the cat looked so much like Ian but she "didn't want to build up her hopes".

"I went to see him and the minute he came out from under the sofa and walked towards me I just knew," she said.

"That was it, this is him. He came and brushed up against me and really embarrassingly I burst into tears.

"I can't explain how amazing it was," she said.

Emma Turner, who runs the cattery, said she had been told that Ian had been fed by neighbours for years.

She added that the cat was was neutered and microchipped but staff turned to social media after struggling to track his owners down.

Turner said Jerome was "absolutely over the moon" to be reunited with Ian.

And it was not just his human family who Ian was reunited with.

Jerome said she still had the cat's brothers and sisters, as well as his elderly mum and dad.

"They're quite old now but I reunited [Ian] with his mum and I'm happy to say they got on fine," she said.

"He has very similar markings as his mum. I was very nervous but the recognition was there.

"He'd been quite skittish but he wasn't with her and that put a smile on our faces.

"Having one of the family reunited with you is incredible in so many different ways my heart could burst," she added.

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