Curiosity nearly got the better of a north-east cat who climbed into a van and travelled 100 miles from home.
Mandy Watson’s cat Daisy vanished from her home in Peterhead on August 23, and after seven days without a meow from her beloved pet she feared the worst.
But luckily for Mrs Watson, Daisy turned up safely in Inverness – where an animal rescue charity was able to trace where she had come from.
The one-year-old moggy appeared at a depot in the city, and staff immediately called Inverness Cat Rescue.
A quick check of Daisy’s microchip told Heather Swinton, from the charity, all she needed to know and she wasted no time in getting in touch with Mrs Watson on Sunday.
And the kind-hearted rescuer even made the 225-mile roundtrip to return the moggy to the north-east.
Last night Mrs Watson said she was delighted to have Daisy back, and thanked the charity for their efforts.
“We thought we’d never see her again,” she said. “We were out looking for her all the time but we never thought she’d be in Inverness. She must have got nosey and jumped in a lorry or something.”
The delighted cat lover – who owns another three felines – last night urged other pet owners to get their animals chipped.
“This was her first adventure, and hopefully her last,” she said.
“If she hadn’t been microchipped there’s now way on earth we’ve ever have got her back. We were at our wit’s end. Thankfully we did.”
Mrs Swinton echoed her plea, and said: “It’s nice when we get a happy ending. I think the main thing that’s highlighted in this whole story is the benefit of the microchip.
“If she hadn’t been microchipped she wouldn’t have found her way back to her owner. No pet owner is going to phone 100 miles way for their cat. They wouldn’t have looked this far.
“It was a 225-mile round trip to get her home but it was worthwhile just to see Mandy’s smiling face.”