Cat found in York reunited with owners four years after going missing 200 miles away

A stray cat who went missing four years ago has been reunited with his owner after being found nearly 200 miles away from home.

18-year-old Felix had been taken into a vets practice in York after being spotted looking "disorientated and skinny" in a garden.

A scan of his microchip revealed he was registered to owners in Stevenage.

Vets4Pets in Clifton Moor said on Facebook: "We then phoned the owners to let them know we had Felix with us, thinking they may have moved up here recently."

The practice said after some "understandable shock" the owners revealed that Felix had been missing for more than four years from their home in Hertfordshire.

Alice Edwards, Felix's owner, said: "When Kate called me from Vets4pets in York, my first reaction was she had the wrong number!

"Then she said she had Felix and I was absolutely flabbergasted."

She added: "He went missing from our home in Stevenage 175 miles from where he was found. Our adult children were equally as shocked but also absolutely delighted as they had grown up with Felix and his late brother Bandit."

Ms Edwards said she immediately stocked up with supplies and arranged to drive to York the following morning.

She said Felix had started staying out for longer periods of time after the death of his brother six years ago until "eventually he didn’t come home at all."

"He seemed quite bewildered when we picked him up but he has soon settled in and is showing lots of affection now," she said.

Kate Carruthers, Veterinary Nurse at Vets4Pets Clifton Moor, said: "He was quite skinny when he was brought in. I knew he was an older boy. I thought he might have been missing a few months, maybe a year."

"When I scanned Felix's chip and saw the pet log I was surprised at how far he had travelled.

"I called the number registered to the chip and the owner was adamant I was wrong and then when I confirmed his name and description the phone went silent. She was so shocked. I said I would call her back in 20 minutes just to give her some time to process it.

"When I called the owner back, she said they had kept his carrier in the car for a year just in case they happened to drive past him. When they moved home a year later they gave up hope of being reunited."

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