Cat missing for 20 years spent final days with owner

Phoebe was two years old when she went missing from her home in Nantwich

A cat missing for two decades was able to spend her final hours with her owner before being put down due to the poor health in which she was found.

Feline Phoebe was discovered in a field in Bridgemere, Cheshire, on 5 March and identified by an RSPCA centre.

She was seriously ill, but managed two days in comfort at home in Nantwich with owner Christine Ball.

Ms Ball, 59, said it was good to be with Phoebe again towards the end.

Lee Stewart, manager at Stapeley Grange Animal Centre, said: "We have reunited cats which have been missing for a few years, but I have never come across a cat missing from home for 20 years."

The RSPCA said Phoebe was two when she disappeared in 2001.

"The vet said she wouldn't have survived 20 years as a stray and we think someone probably took her in and cared for her as their pet," Ms Ball said.

She added she had searched for Phoebe and put up posters without luck, and was "absolutely gobsmacked when we got a phone call from the RSPCA to say they had found [her]".

Christine Ball said she was grateful to be able to comfort Phoebe

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The charity identified Phoebe through her microchip and she was sent to a vet who discovered she had a brain tumour.

Ms Ball said: "It was sad that we found her and so soon afterwards we had to let her go, but it was nice to have some time with her."

And she added: "It did bring some closure to us and we are grateful she lived to such a ripe age - someone else must have really looked after her well."