A cat which went missing after leaving its home has been reunited with its owners - after a decade. Smokey, now 11, was around a year old when Sam Hope first adopted him, in or around 2014, after finding him on the street. But he vanished six months later and after one sighting after that, Sam assumed he'd found a new home.
Then, in late October, he received a call from Cat Patrol, Nottingham's cat rescue centre, telling him they'd found his old cat and wanted to bring him back. Sam said, "I was delighted. I've been wanting to get another cat for ages.
It's like it's meant to be because he's very skinny and a little bit poorly, and he needs lots of TLC and a home. He's the loveliest cat, honestly - he's beautiful and has such a sweet nature. I've just spent about £300 on food and toys.
I've gone to town." Sam, who now lives in Beeston, lived in Jacksdale in the north of the county at the time he adopted Smokey with an ex-partner. At the time, the couple were in the habit of adopting cats and owned two others.
Smokey was "clearly" domesticated when found, Sam says, but was young, not neuteured, didn't have owners, was very timid and appeared under-fed. Sam and his then-partner took him in and fed him, as well as getting him micro-chipped. But one day after around six months he simply "disappeared", says Sam.
They went out to look for him and called around vets, etc, but concluded that the other cats that they owned at the time had not warmed to him and so he had been cast out.
