Twenty-year-old cat who lived in a cemetery for 12 years has 'miracle reunion' with owner

A cat owner has finally been reunited with her feline friend after reporting him missing 12 years ago.

A member of the public took the cat, named Tom, to Anna's Rescue Centre in Llanrumney, Cardiff after he was found with another cat in a cemetery.

The rescue centre posted an appeal on Facebook after it was discovered that Tom had a microchip.

The owner, Donna White, saw the post and called the charity to confirm it was hers and that she lost him more than a decade ago.

A volunteer from the charity said it was a "miracle" the pair were able to reunite and that it was only possible because he was microchipped.

Is is thought the black and white cat, Tom, who is 20 years old, had been living as stray in Cathays cemetery for the last 12 years.

Deveney Lucas, a volunteer from the rescue centre, said, "We had 36,000 views on the Facebook post and so many people were offering advice. And then miracle upon miracle, we get a call from a lady saying it was her cat".

"She was in absolute shock, she actually said 'I think I'm dreaming this'. She was so delighted that Tom was still alive at 20-years-old."

Tom was found after a member of the public initially called about a different cat in the cemetery.

He would often go on walks in the cemetery and struck up a friendship with the strays.

Deveney said, "He was concerned about one cat because it had been infested by flies and he just thought it wasn't right".

Both cats were malnourished and were taken to the rescue where they were fed and later taken to the vets for a check up.

"We always scan them to make sure they don't have microchips. The very bad one with the fly problem wasn't chipped, but the little black and white boy, Tom, did have a microchip much to our surprise", said Deveney.

As the information on the microchip was out of date, they decided to put out a Facebook appeal.

The stray was named Dennis and Donna decided to take both cats home with her so they could spend their last days together.

"She was overwhelmed. I think he seemed to recognise her, Deveney added.

"It was just a really heartfelt, a lovely moment for anybody in animal rescue. To see all your hard work in a moment like that. It was wonderful."

"Without social media we couldn't reunite probably 50% of our pets, because sadly not everybody microchips their pets. In the case of dogs it's compulsory, but in the case with cats it's not."

She urged, "People who have lost pets, please don't give up hope because you never know what's going to happen in the future".