Owner Kellie Wright couldn’t believe it when a vet informed her that her beloved mog Milo had been found after his last sighting in 2016.

Mum-of-one Kellie (32) had taken in Milo and another cat Maisie six years ago, and they settled into the family well until Milo suddenly disappeared.

Despite after months of handing out flyers and sharing posts on Facebook, Milo remained lost and the family gave up hope of ever finding him again – which made the phone call from a vet explaining that he had been found all the more stunning.

Milo was identified from his microchip and had been living with another owner for a year, who had begun feeding him when he strayed into their garden to eat food they were putting out for hedgehogs.

Kellie, who lives in Peterborough, first shared her story on the Peterborough’s Lost Pets Facebook page.

She said: “Milo has always been an outdoors cat, sometimes he’d go for a week at a time. He’d always turn up again, but this time he just didn’t come back and we started to assume the worst.

“I registered him as missing with the vets when it happened, but the software had gone down and he wasn’t registered. Out of the blue, I got a call from a woman, who said: ‘Hi, I just want to let you know that Milo’s been brought in’. I was absolutely gobsmacked.

“She told me he was really hurt, and I paused for a moment before saying: ‘I’ve not seen him for four years.’ I was in bits when they rang me, I couldn’t stop crying, I was in complete shock.

“When they called, they told me he was in a bad way, so I had no idea what I was walking into. My mind was racing and I thought he would be skinny and gaunt, but when I saw him again he was so chunky it was clear he hadn’t missed a meal.

“They eventually took him to the vets because he was really poorly; the vet said he had a foreign body in his ear, and he scratched it so much that he burst his eardrum open which was infected for around three weeks before he got to the vets. It’s going to take several weeks to heal, but in the week he’s been back home he’s made such improvements.

“When Milo saw me walk in, he couldn’t stop purring, he looked so happy, which is surprising considering how poorly he’s been.”

Kellie has promised to keep Milo’s last family updated on his progress.

Unfortunately Maisie has also been missing for some time, but now Milo’s incredible return has given them hope that she may also come back some day.

She added: “So many people that I’ve spoken to have said that it’s given them hope that they’ll find their pets and not to give up. Even I never expected this to be the outcome.”