A delighted woman has been reunited with her cat, who miraculously appeared at a vets after disappearing six years ago.
Zoe Foster, 44, was contacted by a vet on Monday who said that her beloved cat Gizmo had been found, after vanishing from her home in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.
The stunned cat owner said she thought it was a prank call when she was told her black tabby cat was alive and well after six years.
Zoe Foster, 44, (pictured) has been reunited with her cat Gizmo after he disappeared from her home in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, six years ago
She said: ‘It was really strange I knew he was going to come home. When I got the phone call on Monday I could’ve fallen over.
‘I said: ‘You are joking me’.
‘I thought someone was going to come out and say ‘fooled you’.
Gizmo had been brought in to a vet by a woman from Selston, Nottinghamshire, who adopted Gizmo after assuming he had been abandoned.
The woman had fed Gizmo for several years and he slept in a chicken coop in her garden, but wouldn’t come in the house.
But when she eventually took Gizmo to the vet, staff quickly realised that the cat was microchipped and called a delighted Miss Foster, who picked Gizmo up on July 15.
Miss Foster said that it was ‘really emotional’ to find out that Gizmo had been found just eight miles away.
She said: ‘I never gave up. I always knew deep down he was going to come home.’
The stunned cat owner said she thought it was a prank call when she was told her black tabby cat was alive and well
The vet told Miss Foster that Gizmo had been brought in by a woman from Selston, Nottinghamshire, who adopted Gizmo after assuming he had been abandoned
Gizmo, who is now nine, vanished from Miss Foster’s home on May 28, 2014.
Miss Foster, who has eight other cats, said it was unusual for Gizmo to disappear, as he was neutered, but started to panic when he never came back.
She said: ‘I was calling and calling him but he wouldn’t come back. I just did everything I could to find him.
‘I laid out posters, knocked doors, phoned vets, and phones Pet Log because he was microchipped.
‘I tried all the sites and missing pages on social media. Nothing was working.
‘It was like he’d vanished. It was really awful. He was only tiny when I got him and he was always by my side.’
Gizmo (pictured before his disappearance), who is now nine, vanished from Miss Foster’s home on May 28, 2014
Miss Foster, who has eight other cats, said it was unusual for Gizmo to disappear, as he was neutered, but started to panic when he never came back
Miss Foster’s friends were putting out Facebook appeals ‘but it was like a dead end’. She said that in the three years she owned Gizmo, he had ‘never done anything like that’.
But Miss Foster said she has absolutely no idea how Gizmo managed to travel eight miles to Selston.
She said: ‘The next door neighbours were having building work done at the time. Maybe he got in the van and was taken away.
‘Or maybe someone picked him up. It is just a mystery, we don’t know really.
‘If only he could talk he could tell us about his adventure.’
She has been giving people updates on his missing page on Facebook, which is still active, since Gizmo returned home.
The single care worker said: ‘When I’d driven him home it was the first time I was able to give him a hug.
‘I think he does recognise me. He does look up when I call him and twitches his ears.’
After her whirlwind experience, Miss Foster advises people who find a cat on the street to take it to a vet straight away for them to check if it’s microchipped
Miss Foster said that having Gizmo back home has ‘still not sunk in properly’ but added he is starting to settle back in
Miss Foster advises people who find a cat on the street to take it to a vet straight away for them to check if it’s microchipped.
She said the woman who adopted Gizmo had ‘never thought to get him checked for a chip’ and it would have been ‘a lot different’ if she had.
She said: ‘I have cats that come around here and I always see if they’re registered as missing before taking them in.’
Miss Foster also tells other cat owners to ‘keep the faith’ if their pet goes missing, as you never know where they might turn up.
She added that having Gizmo back home has ‘still not sunk in properly’ but added he has started to settle back in.
She said: ‘It will take him a while to settle in because he has been missing so long.
‘He has mellowed since he’s been back.’