A cat in England who went missing five years back has been found living two miles away from his original home, reports BBC. Fred, a ginger cat, disappeared from his home in Sudbury, Suffolk, in January 2019. Recently, an elderly man, who’s been caring for the animal for the last six months, brought the feline to Ardmore Vets. Subsequently, the vet practice got in touch with Fred’s owner.
Ginger cat lost his fur and was starving
Kat Owen, the cat’s owner, said she was on a holiday in Kenya when she received a call from Ardmore Vets, saying they’d found her pet. She said Fred had lost his fur and was starving when he arrived at the vet practice. Since the feline was microchipped, the vet could easily track his owners down.
Owen said she was devastated after the cat went missing five years ago. “We’d moved to Sudbury from Colchester,” she shared. “We’d been here six months and, one night, he went out and just didn’t come home.”
After Fred disappeared, Owen looked for him for several months in the area, but to no avail. “There was a lot of ugly crying,” she said. “I couldn’t even walk past a ginger cat without checking it was Fred for about two years.”
During an interaction with The East Anglian Daily Times, Owen said, “He wasn’t just a cat that would come and eat his food and go.” Continuing, she shared, “He would follow you around the house and he would want to be picked up.” She also added Fred got along well with the family’s dog and their other cat, George.
Owen was delighted to be reunited with her beloved pet. She said when she saw him, the feline “came straight over” to her and her husband, Chris Owen. However, she ultimately decided to return Fred to the elderly man who cared for him. She said she feared Fred might disappear again. “I was concerned he would not see this as his home anymore and he might go missing again.”
Despite the back-and-forth, she will continue to visit the feline. “I think he is going to become a bit of a friend to us,” Owen said.
