Mickey’s feline fine after months on run

MICKEY the moggy is safely back at home, three months after a 144-mile journey which saw him rescued by an Oldham man.

The cat is thought to have hitched a ride with a wagon which took him from his home in Pontefract, Yorkshire, to a building site in Warrington.

There he was adopted by workmen who spotted him leap from the wagon, and they fed him for three months until their work came to an end.

A security guard who had taken a shine to Mickey was unable to take him home because he had dogs, and the cat’s fate looked uncertain as builders packed up to leave.

The moggy’s plight prompted one of the builders, from Oldham, to bring him back to the town and take him to his vets, Companion Care, to see if they could help.

The cat was checked over and discovered to have a microchip linking him with his owner, Heather Blades. Mickey, who is two at the end of September, is now safely back in Pontefract, but confined to barracks until he has settled.

Heather, who is a veterinary nurse in Yorkshire, said she was ecstatic to get him back.

She said: “We hand-reared him from a day-old after he was found abandoned on an allotment. We were up every two hours in the night feeding him, so he is extra special to us.

“He went out through the cat flap in the early hours of February 24, and didn’t come back. We put flyers and posters out, but still we couldn’t find him.”

Heather added: “Eventually we gave up hope, so when Companion Care contacted us it was wonderful.” Heather travelled to the surgery, inside Pets At Home on the Centre Retail Park, Royton, with husband Rob and their two children Cameron (6) and Keilan (4) to pick Mickey up.

Debbie Mooney, receptionist at Companion Care, said: “I was so pleased it had been microchipped as it meant a quick check on the national register would tell me the owner.”