My cat went lacking when he was simply six-months outdated – here is how I obtained him again after 16 years

A man has revealed the joyous moment his cat returned after she went missing for 16 years.

Carl Pullen said his pet cat, Sunshine, then-six-months-old, scampered out of his home in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, in 2009, and never returned.

He desperately tried to find the Bengal feline – a cross between an Asian leopard cat and a black California tomcat – but presumed she was stolen because the breed can fetch up to a whopping £1,700.

Carl, a technical project manager, put up flyers around Welwyn Garden City with the hopes that that his furry friend would eventually find her way home.

Feeling crushed, he eventually gave up hope, and in 2010, he moved to Takeley, Essex, according to the BBC.

However, a telephone call from an old vet some 16 years later changed Carl and Sunshine’s story.

‘The vet [called and] asked if I had a cat called Sunshine – she’d been handed in as a stray,’ said Carl.

‘I’d always figured she’d been stolen. I’d put up posters, appealed to find her, and she was microchipped.

‘She went out one day and never came back. It’s a good thing I never changed my phone number in all these years’.

Paul, grateful that he never changed his number, received the happy news this month, two decades after the feline first walked out.

After assessing the cat, the vet discovered that she was underweight, that her claws required clipping, and that her kidneys were in a bad condition.

The vet estimated that Sunshine now weighed just two kg and should be around 19 years old, typically an elderly age for a feline.

Carl also recounted how ‘sad’ life was when his furry friend went astray, and how staying in his Hertfordshire home left him haunted by the memory.

Now, the technical project manager has taken Sunshine back in, though he worries it might not be forever.

Carl said: ‘She’s 19-and-a-half years old which is 92 in cat years. I don’t think she’s been a stray all this time – maybe just in the last few months.

‘We thought we wouldn’t see her again but she’s back home now’.

It comes after an elderly cat who went missing for two years cried after recognising her owners’ scent when she was finally brought home after living on the streets.

Alison and Dean Lyng, from Chatham in Kent, lost their beloved 25-year-old cat Kizzy in 2021 when she failed to come home one day.

But after being spotted looking a little worse for wear by a member of the public, the moggy was taken to the vet and assessed.

Before long, the word was put out that Kizzy had been found and an appeal was launched to find her owners.

After two years apart, the couple were reunited with their long-lost feline, and it was an emotional event.

‘She recognised my husband’s scent and then cried. She’s now relaxing with us and getting plenty of cuddles and treats,’ Alison said.

Alison and Dean were bereft when Kizzy went missing two years ago and, because of her old age, had assumed she had passed away.

But in 2023, the cat was spotted on the side of the road in Upchurch, Kent, by a concerned passer-by, who picked her up and took her to an animal hospital.

At the time, frail Kizzy was malnourished, covered in fleas and was unable to walk properly because her claws were so long.

After the moggy was assessed, vets could not find a microchip for her and so assumed she was a stray.

The Animals Lost and Found in Kent group put out an appeal to find her owners, at which point Alison, 48, realised she recognised her impoverished-looking cat.

After finally being reunited with Kizzy, Alison said: ‘It’s absolutely brilliant to see her again, but what were the chances?’ Alison said.

‘For two years she’s been living with no home and no care.

‘When she was seen in the gutter, the lady first thought Kizzy was dead.

‘She was emaciated, only weighed 2.5kgs, had worms and fleas and couldn’t walk because of her claws.

‘And this is a pet cat, not microchipped, who is 25 years old and has lived in a house and been cared for all of her life.’

Natasha McPhee, founder of Animals Lost and Found in Kent, said: ‘It’s just wonderful! It’s amazing.

‘Most cats don’t get to that age indoors let alone outside on their own.’

The oldest cat in the world is said to be Rosie, a fluffy tortoise-shell who is 31 and lives in Norwich. 

However Leslie Greenhough, 70, in Stockport, Manchester, believes he has the oldest living cat, a 30-year-old tortoise-shell named Millie, reports the BBC.