AN INTREPID missing cat has been found in Bicester, 200 miles from its home.

Pet cat Jessica, from Middlesbrough, had been missing for a week, with owner Lorna Wood worried the feline would never be seen again.

So it came as a huge surprise when she received a call from the Hart Veterinary Centre in Bicester saying it had found her.

Mrs Wood, who lives in Saltersgill, said: “When we got the call she had been missing for a week. I had been out walking at 11pm all week trying to find her. I was very shocked.”

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Jess was brought into the veterinary centre on Thursday, January 15 where she was checked for a microchip to find her owner.

The scan revealed that Jessica’s family lived three-and-a-half hours away.

Vet Clare Hart, who set up the practice with her husband Ian 21 years ago, said: “It is not unusual to find a pet registered to a family that is miles away as owners do forget to change their address when they move sometimes.

“We thought that Jessica’s family had moved to the Bicester area and she had just become lost while exploring her new patch.

“You can imagine our surprise to find that the family still lives in Middlesbrough.

“If ever you needed a reason to microchip your pet, this is it.”

The Browning Drive vets contacted the feline’s “relieved” family who were reunited with their pet on Friday, January 16, after travelling down to pick her up.

Miss Wood, who has had Jess for two-and-a-half years, said: “We got a call and they said it was Hart Vets Centre in Bicester, near Oxford, and I had to ask ‘Oxford as in the city down south?’.

“I could not believe it, I do not know how the hell she had got all the way down to Bicester.

“She does like clambering into cars so maybe that is what happened.”

Miss Wood also owns a cat called Erik, after the Phantom of the Opera character because of his half black and half white face.

She said: “We always expected Erik to be the problem as he is a complete rascal but Jess is always getting into cars and houses. She is just too friendly.”

The 25-year-old pet owner made the long drive down to Bicester with her mum Dawn Wood and grandad Dennis Stanley, both from Sheffield, and said that the cat was “just as laid-back as always” when reunited.

She added: “When we went in to see her she did not have her collar on, she must have lost that on her way somewhere. So it is good news she was found and lucky she microchipped.”

“My mum was just ecstatic and I used to keep her at my grandad’s house so he was keen to come down to get her too. I am just so chuffed to have her back.”

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