A CAT who was missing for seven years has been reunited with his owners thanks to Stray Cat Rescue’s very own Miss Marple.
Finley, who is now 19, escaped from his home in Beale Street, Dunstable, the day his owners Kaye Healy and family moved out in 2005.
He was fed by a woman who frequently saw him in her garden in Oakwell Drive for about five years, and when he started looking ‘very poorly’ last week she finally called Stray Cat Rescue Bedfordshire.
Delighted owner Mrs Healy, who is a teacher at St Mary’s Lower School in Dunstable, said: “Stray Cat Rescue managed to track me down at work.
“It was a big shock as it’s been such a long time. Finley was quite old when we lost him so we just presumed he had died and eventually stopped looking for him.
“It’s lovely having him back at home. He was really quite poorly but Boness Vets in Barton looked after him well and after a few nights at home he’s looking much better.”
Finley has leukaemia in his ears and will have to have an operation.
He was microchipped but the chip hadn’t been registered, so kitten co-ordinator and lost and found officer Cheryl Jamieson took charge of tracking Finley’s family down.
She said: “I was determined to find them. I went to their old house where the new residents told me Mrs Healy was a teacher, so I spent a whole evening going through teachers’ lists online until finally I found someone with the right name and initials and contacted the school.
“This just shows how important microchipping is. Finley was in such a bad way the vet said he would normally have been put down but we knew we had to try and find his owners first.”
Visit straycatrescue.co.uk to find out more, adopt cats or make donations to the charity.