Missing cat rescued from recycling centre

Dave Dawes said his cat had lost one and a half kilos while he was away

A cat has been rescued from a skip at a recycling centre after going missing from his home in Leamington for almost a month.

Dave Dawes said he had tried leafleting people in the area in the hope that someone might have seen four-year-old Rupert, but with no success.

Then he had a call on Thursday to say a woman had spotted him trapped in the skip and that staff at the recycling centre had got him out.

Mr Dawes said Rupert had lost a lot of weight, but his ordeal did not otherwise appear to have affected him.

Rupert had been identified through his microchip and Mr Dawes urged other cat owners to make sure their pets had been chipped.

Since 10 June it has been a legal requirement for cat owners in England to do this.

"A lot of cats which get found are never identified," he said.

Mr Dawes lives just 600m from the recycling centre and said his cat regularly goes outside, but he would be kept in for the next few weeks while he regains weight, on the advice of vets.