A MISSING kitten was returned home as an adult cat after he went missing almost a year ago.

Tommy's owners had given up all hope they might find him after he went missing in early 2013, but they received a call two weeks ago saying he had been found in Stourport - nine miles from home.

Diana Pudge, the cat's owner, said even though she only had the 4-month-old kitten for a short while before he went missing, he recognised her as soon as she went to collect him.

She said: "He was a fluffy little thing - we kept him in the house and got all of his injections and even a microchip, but he got out.

"We went searching and put notices up and he just disappeared into thin air. After a few months we thought that was it and we gave all this stuff away and then we had a call from the microchipping company saying he had been found in Stourport."

Mrs Pudge, who lives in Diglis Road, Worcester, said no one knew what the cat was getting up to until he was taken to a vets and thought he must have walked or jumped on a van to get the nine miles to the town.

"We went to the vets and he was a tiny kitten when we last saw him and how he's fully grown - it is like we have missed his childhood. He recognised up immediately and he's back home now."

Tommy seemed well fed and had no health problems that could be seen by the vet which Mrs Pudge believed was why no one picked him up sooner until he was said to be "terrorising" other cats and people in a Stourport neighbourhood. He was scanned for a microchip by the vet to see if he had an owner.

Mrs Pudge added that she could not stress enough the importance of microchipping pets so lost ones can be returned to concerned owners with ease rather than ending up in shelters, like Tommy would have.

For information on microchipping, visit rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/general/microchipping.