A lost cat in Renfrewshire caught vets off guard recently when they discovered it was 9,000 miles away from home.
Stunned vets with the SSPCA who picked the moggy up in Erskine on May 22 checked it for a chip, which revealed that its home address was in Australia.
The cat had been visiting a house in Hawthorn Crescent since Christmas. The residents noticed that their new feline friend appeared to be becoming unwell and so called the SSPCA.
Their team liaised with Cats Protection and eventually uncovered the mystery.
Melvin – as they later found out was the name of the cat – had moved to Erskine with his family Jacqueline and Matt Dick, who had adopted him Down Under, where they had lived for 14 years.
The pair had spent $8,000 to bring Melvin, and their border collie Max, back to Scotland with them in 2022, but just eight weeks after moving into their new home Melvin had disappeared.
Incredibly, Melvin had remained in Erskine for the next nine months, perhaps unable to find his way back to his new home.
Who knows what kind of shenanigans Melvin got up to during that time.
An SSPCA Spokesperson said: “We were delighted to be able to reunite Melvin with Jacqueline and Matt after all this time. It is so important to have your pets microchipped so that, as in this case, owners can be traced quickly.
“Help us continue to rescue animals like Melvin by donating here: https://bit.ly/3qWZ8Cn”
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