A family have been reunited with their beloved pet cat after he ran away from home and returned four years later with half an ear missing.
Mum-of-three Mandy Hynd, 38, had given up hope of ever finding her cat Alfie again, especially after moving home earlier this year.
But to her astonishment, Mandy, from Leven, Fife, was able to collect the moggy from a local vets on Sunday after a picture of him had been handed in.
It was spotted by Mandy’s ex-husband who forwarded it to her on Friday last week.
She said: “He messaged me an image of this advert from the vets. He thought it looked a lot like Alfie.
“I phoned the vets and told them the story. I went in on Sunday to confirm everything and it was definitely him.
“I’m in disbelief that it’s him. Who finds a cat after four years?
“The kids are over the moon because they never forgot about him. He was still getting brought up in conversations.
“My daughter knew straight away that it was him.”
Mandy explained how Alfie first ran away from her previous home in Kennoway, Fife, four years ago.
She said: “I had two cats — Sam and Alfie — through a friend. I already had two female cats.
“I remember he was about one-year-old and I was getting ready to take him to be dressed. That’s when he decided to go on the run.
“We never saw him go.”
Mandy and her family desperately searched for their beloved pet but were never able to find him, and had accepted they may never see him again.
She added: “I put adverts in the shops and posted it on Facebook. Nothing ever came of it.
“I didn’t think much of it at first — it’s quite common for male cats to go wandering.
“Since then my life moved on. I just moved house earlier this year.”
Mandy has no idea of where Alfie has been for the last four years but it’s clear that the poor cat has had a rough time.
She said: “He’s got half an ear and his fang has gone through his top lip. It looks like he’s had a hard life.”
Alfie is now back at home with Mandy and her family, but is still learning to adapt to life in a house with three other cats and a dog.
Mandy added: “I’m apprehensive about he’ll fit in because he’s been away for so long and he’s now an adult cat.
“His brother is so much like him — but Sam is the man of the house. You wonder if they’ll remember each other. They were so close.
“He used to be really placid, so laid back he’d fall over. He was my cat, my boy. He slept on my bed every night, and he never ventured very far.”
