Cat found three years after going missing

Ollie is pictured playing with his favourite toy again

A pet cat feared dead after escaping from kennels in Aberdeenshire almost three years ago has been reunited with his owners.

Ollie disappeared in July 2013 while his owners were abroad on holiday.

The Bailey family started searching for their pet but were beginning to lose hope as the months passed.

However, a cat found in St Fergus - about five miles from where he went missing - has been confirmed as Ollie thanks to a microchip.

Owner Adele Bailey, 37, said they lived in Peterhead at the time Ollie went missing.

Now reunited at their new home in Turriff, she told the BBC Scotland news website: "It is all a bit surreal - it's just unbelievable.

"We did posters and did searches for about a year. We were getting possible sightings.

"However I was starting to think on the dark side and that we had lost him."

'He's fatter'

Mrs Bailey explained: "We got a call from the St Fergus area about a cat that was coming round.

"With the help of Cats Protection he was scanned and it was his chip.

"We jumped straight in the car.

"He was straight up on my knee purring.

"He's come back fatter - he's not gone without a feed. I cannot believe how well he is looking. And he's back playing with his favourite catnip mouse toy.

"He'll be staying in the house for a few weeks now."

She added: "We would not have been reunited if Ollie had not had that chip."