Dorchester family welcome home beloved cat (From Dorset Echo)

Dorchester family welcome home beloved cat

10:00am Wednesday 30th January 2013 in News By Harry Hogger

A DORCHESTER family have welcomed home their beloved cat over a year after it went missing.

The Webb family were left distraught when their rescue cat Purdey went missing early last January.

Despite their best efforts to track down their beloved moggy, months went by without a trace of her.

Then, more than a year on, they were contacted out of the blue by someone who had been looking after their pet for some time.

The Webb family are now reunited with Purdey and want to make people who find cats or other pets aware of their responsibilities.

Mum Karen, who works as a solicitor with Dorset County Council, said the family had re-homed Purdey from The Cats Protection Society back in 2007 and she was used to going out at night.

But at the very start of last year the six-year-old cat went out during a spell of bad weather and did not come home.

Karen said: “Over the next few weeks we were constantly calling her and rattling our food tin to try and get her to come home but to no avail.

“Neighbours had not seen Purdey and there was just not a trace of her anywhere.”

Purdey was microchipped and the family advertised on the Dorset Lost and Found Cat Register.

Karen said: “Nothing happened and my family and I just assumed that Purdey had come to harm but her body was never found. “My 12-year-old daughter, Lily, was very upset over the course of the year as she adored Purdey so much.”

When they had almost given up hope, Karen was contacted by someone in Charminster who had seen her cat’s picture online and recognised it to be a cat he had taken in but had never taken to the vets.

Dad Chris, Lily and her brother Louis, 14, went to the man’s address and recognised Purdey straight away.

Karen said they were ‘thrilled’ to have their cat back and had no idea how it had got to Charminster.

She said she hoped her family’s story would provide inspiration to people who have lost their animals but also send out a message to anyone who finds cats or other pets.

She said: “We were heartbroken for just over a year and it was worse because we did not know what had happened to our lovely cat. “Whilst I am very grateful to the man who had Purdey, for looking after her and feeding her, I just wish he had made enquiries with the lost and found agencies or at the minimum, got Purdey to vets to be checked.

“Had he done that, we would have had Purdey back much sooner. “I would encourage anyone who comes across a cat which they think is a stray, to check with the local vets first or with the lost and found agencies, just in case someone has reported their much loved and precious family pet.”

To view the Dorset Lost and Found Cat Register, visit dorsetcats lostandfound.co.uk.