Sooty safely home after his mystery trip (From Gazette Series)

Sooty safely home after his mystery trip

LUCK has returned - with a bit of help from the Gazette - for a lost black cat found wandering the streets of Thornbury.

Sooty almost certainly used up one of his nine lives during his epic journey from his home in Withy Way, Cam.

Landlady Honey Pegg, from Thornbury's Wheatsheaf pub in Chapel Street, took in the fluffy feline and appealed to its owners to come and retrieve him.

"Within hours of the Gazette coming out we heard from the owners and they came over immediately and collected him," said Honey.

"We have absolutely no idea how a cam cat ended up in Thornbury unless he hitched a lift in a delivery van or something like that. But the important thing is he is now back home."

And Sooty's owners are at a complete loss as to how their seven-year-old pet came to be 12 miles away in Thornbury.

"It is a complete mystery to us," said Luke Morrissey, 13. "We have had him seven years and he has never done anything like this before."

The family knew instantly the missing moggie was Sooty by his distinctive extra claw.

"When we read in the Gazette that a cat had been found in Thornbury we went straight down there and it was Sooty. The only thing we can think of is that he found his way into a vehicle or was taken there."

The owners have now had him chipped as a precaution in case Sooty decides to go off on his travels again.

"Just in case it does happen again we will then be able to trace him. We are really grateful to Honey for taking him in and looking after him following his journey."