Runaway London cat found 400 miles away in Fife

A LONDON cat has shocked his owners after being found 400 miles from home in Rosyth having been missing for a year.

Pablo who was found in Rosyth. Picture: HeMedia

The nine-year-old wanderer disappeared from his home in Lewisham last October and had been missing so long his owners thought he was dead.

But grey and black-striped Pablo has now been found by staff at a branch of Lloyds bank in Rosyth.

Exactly how he ended up there, or survived the last 12 months, remains a mystery.

Lloyds staff put Pablo out when he wandered in last Friday lunchtime, but the determined feline jumped back inside by stepping on the automatic door mat.

Staff called the local branch of Cats Protection – and when the charity’s co-ordinator Anita Guy arrived, she found Pablo sitting in a chair.

She said: “He had gone back in after they put him out – it was as if he was saying ‘I need help!’”

Ms Guy took Pablo to a local vet where he was looked over and scanned for a microchip. It was then that it was discovered he was registered to a London address.

She added: “It’s amazing. Goodness knows how he got from London to Rosyth. He must have been terrified.

“When we called his owner she couldn’t believe it. They thought he was dead because he had been missing for a year.

“He maybe hid in a removal van or sneaked into something. It just goes to show microchipping does work – if everybody microchipped there would be fewer strays in the world.”

And now Pablo looks set to be reunited with his owners, Siobhan Campbell and her family, in south London.

The charity is hoping to fly him home, saying a car or train journey would be too long for a cat, and is now asking for donations.

Siobhan’s mother, Kate Partridge said: “It was weird – I was just thinking on Thursday that it was October and it’s been a year since he went missing, and on Friday I got the phone call saying he’d been found. We were just flabbergasted. I had given up all hope. It was great to hear he was still alive.

“I was in a state of shock for a good couple of hours!

“We checked all the homes in the street where he used to hang out after he went missing and we thought he would turn up after a few days but it just got longer and longer.

“We don’t know if he’s been in Rosyth for a couple of weeks or longer and we will never find out – but maybe someone will come forward with further information.”

Anyone wishing to help with Pablo’s flight home should call 01383 419975 or visit Cats Protection.