Woman reunited with missing cat after six years

Bow, who is 10 years old, had been missing for most of his life

A woman has been reunited with her pet cat after he went missing for six years.

Bow left home when his owner Jill Watts was living on a narrowboat in Thorne in Doncaster.

Ms Watts has since moved to the Derbyshire village of Renishaw, but she never gave up hope of getting Bow back, because he was microchipped.

Then, a few weeks ago, she got a call from a woman who had been feeding Bow after seeing him sleeping in a field.

Jill Watts said she "never gave up hope" that she would be reunited with Bow

"I couldn't quite take it in, I was a bit shocked," she said.

"We did wonder if he had got on someone's boat, and the boat had sailed away, and he had got stranded somewhere.

"I'm just excited to have him back; I always believed he'd come back."

Ms Watts was overcome with emotion when she went to pick Bow up.

"I saw how well he looked, and he recognised me, and he knew his name," she said.

"I was crying, it really made me sad, because I thought, 'where has he been for six years?'"

Ms Watts says Bow is "so cute" and "walks to heel all the time like a dog"

Bow was found in Thorne, so he had not travelled far.

Instead of sailing away, Ms Watts believes he had been looked after by factory workers.

"The lady said where she lived in Thorne, there had been some factories behind her and the factories had closed down, so she seemed to think he was a factory cat," said Ms Watts.

"They'd been feeding him and probably making a fuss of him."

Ms Watts is hopeful that Bow's brother, Arra (right), will return too

Bow had a brother called Arra who also went missing while living on the narrowboat, and Ms Watts hopes he will return too.

"As brothers, they were so close, they slept together all the time," she said.

Ms Watts adopted a new cat and also got a dog after Bow went missing, but fortunately he is getting on well with his new siblings.

"He can't go out yet, I've got to keep him in another week because I don't want him running off again," she said.

"I don't know whether he was lost, but he's back after six years.

"I never gave up hope, and I won't give up on Arra either."