A CHARFIELD woman is urging others to do all they can to reunite pets with their owners after her family’s much-loved cat went missing.

Jan Baber’s ten-year-old cat Monty disappeared on January 4.

He was found almost a month later and brought to Rowe Vet Group in Wotton and later transferred to Rowe's in Bradley Stoke for recovery. Sadly Monty was very dehydrated and suffering from jaundice and died a few days later.

Ms Baber wants to highlight the power of social media and the work done by Rowes after Monty was found.

She said the Facebook group Lost and Found Pets in Bristol/South Glos gave her family the support they needed during their search for Monty and afterwards.

“I had over 320 comments at one point from members, all hoping for Monty to be returned to us.

“So many people see a cat and befriend it without thinking that the cat belongs to someone or see one on the roadside and just pass it by.

Ms Baber said there are lots of things that can be done to help people who have lost their pets.

"We enlisted help in looking for Monty so that people knew that we were looking for him. Monty had an identification microchip inserted under the skin which enabled Rowe's to track us down as his owners after the kind person who found him took him into their surgery."

She said microchips will become compulsory for dogs in April 2016 but they were an excellent idea to insure against loss for cats too.

Ms Baber is urging people to check their sheds and outside buildings for pets that might have got trapped in them before they go away for weekends or holidays.

She said: "It is highly likely Monty was trapped somewhere and unable to get food and water which ultimately led to the health problems that he was sadly unable to recover from."