Awol cat found years later, living off McDonald's

Michelle and Khushy Bhogal had assumed they would never see Henry again

A cat which went missing three years ago has been reunited with his owners - after being found in a McDonald's car park where he was reportedly living off scraps.

The 17-year-old feline, Henry, was discovered in Telford, just five miles from his home in Shifnal.

Michelle and Khushy Bhogal said they were "shocked and amazed" to get him back, looking thinner but otherwise no worse off for his 36-month disappearance.

And with Henry seemingly having gone from Happy Meal to happy ending, Mrs Bhogal said they "still can't quite get our heads around it at all, the fact that it's been so long".

Mrs Bhogal said Henry went missing when she and her husband opened up their house to do some painting in 2022. When a fire alarm went off, the cat was spooked and made a dash.

He had "always been an adventurer", Mrs Bhogal said, and at first they were not concerned, assuming Henry would have returned to their old house, which was nearby.

She said it was only after a couple of years they began to think "probably he's not coming back now".

But one more year on, she got a call from Connaughts vets in Wolverhampton, which went to voicemail.

When she read a transcript of the message, she discovered someone had brought in Henry, whom she had had microchipped some years before.

She said she was shaking and could not believe the news.

When she and her husband went to collect him, Mrs Bhogal said, Henry "came over to us straight away, he was purring".

The Bhogals discovered their cat had been living off scraps in a McDonald's car park, with a local man feeding both Henry and another cat.

The Bhogals have thanked the couple who brought Henry to the vets

Henry was spotted in the car park by Kaycee Rae, 17, who became concerned he may have "needed some help".

As a cat owner herself, she thought Henry was probably a stray, and took him to the vets in the hope he was microchipped.

She said it was "unbelievable" to have reunited him with his owners.

Now back at home, Henry initially needed a bit of reassuring, Mrs Bhogal said, and wanted his bed under a table at first, but had since settled in.

"He seems happy to be home," she said, adding she was now being careful to keep him in the house.