Pet owner 'overwhelmed' after reuniting with her cat who disappeared 14 years ago

A woman who lost her cat 14 years ago has finally been reunited with her after she was found just down the road at a factory.

Ruth Armstrong from Hinckley in Leicestershire said she was "overwhelmed" when she was contacted by the RSPCA on Thursday to say her pet, Elsa, had been found.

She was picked up by rescue officers after concerned staff at a factory in Nutts Lane called the animal welfare charity about a stray cat that had a lump on her head.

The black and white cat was only two years old when she went missing in 2007.

Recalling the time when her pet went missing, Ms Armstrong said: "She was spending progressively longer periods outside the house.

"Then one day she came in, weed on the sofa and disappeared forever."

She said: "We looked for her for a long, long, time but eventually, as the years went by, I figured she wasn't coming back.

"I had kept hope she had found a warm living home."

However, it turned out that Elsa had been living in the grounds of the factory.

The staff said they had seen the cat hanging around the site for a few years and had been kindly feeding her.

However this time they called the RSPCA when they spotted that she had a lump on her head and an open wound to her left side.

Elsa was taken to the Parkvet in Glenfield for treatment, and when the vet scanned her micro-chip he saw Ruth's address.

Elsa's owner has started documenting her progress on YouTube:

Ms Armstrong said she is "elated, overwhelmed and shocked" by the news of Elsa's return.

She said: "I still cant believe it. She has a big tumour on side which the vets think are cancerous.

"But I'm just thankful she was taken off the street just before the cold snap. With her age I'm not sure she would have survived - the timing was just amazing."

Ms Armstrong has started a crowdfunding campaign in the hope of raising money to cover Elsa's medical bills.

"Elsa's story is just astounding," she said.

"The vet said he had never heard anything like it. If she hadn't had her microchip I would never have seen her again," she added.