WhatsApp group reunites missing cat with owner

Diana Spalve was reunited with her much-loved cat Penny a month after she went missing

A woman who was reunited with her missing cat after a month has praised her local neighbourhood WhatsApp group for helping her to find it.

Diana Spalve's much-loved, five-year-old, indoor pet Penny "escaped" from her house in Ettingshall, Wolverhampton, on 28 June.

Ms Spalve, 34, said she printed and put up about 100 leaflets in an efforts to find her beloved British Blue shorthair and to urge people to check their sheds and gardens.

She was eventually reunited with Penny after a neighbour in the WhatsApp group chat, which has been helping in the search, told her they had spotted a "grey cat" at a nearby industrial unit.

Indoor cat Penny "escaped" through a window at her home on 28 June

Ms Spalve, who has had Penny since she was a kitten, said she was found by chance after the neighbour heard noises coming from the unit, close to their housing estate.

Within 15 minutes of receiving the neighbour's text on 26 July, Ms Spalve rushed down to the unit and was reunited with Penny - who was safe and well.

"It was just a relief, I was just crying like a kid when I saw her," she said.

"It seemed too good, too easy to be true, it felt surreal, we couldn't believe we found her.

"She's not injured. She was OK but she was very skinny."

Ms Spalve put up about 100 leaflets in the days after the British Blue shorthair disappeared

The WhatsApp group, which has more than 400 members from the housing estate, had been helping Ms Spalve ever since Penny disappeared, with members coming together to put up posters and helping to check potential hiding spaces.

"We basically did what we could, walked around, spoke to people. We had a few false alarms... but it wasn't her," Ms Spalve explained.

"The house felt very empty without her."

She said she was "grateful" to people in the group for their help and support.

"Obviously without our WhatsApp group, we wouldn't have known [where Penny was]," she said.

"Without having the group, we wouldn't have her back."