A MISSING cat that was 9,000 miles away from home has been reunited with its owners.

Melvin the cat, who is from Australia, went missing in August 2022 after immigrating to Erskine with his owners Jacqueline and Matt Dick.

The four-legged friend had become a random visitor at a member of the public's house since Christmas.

However, after a while, the homeowners reported their concerns for the stray cat to the Scottish SPCA as he seemed unwell.

Once collecting him on May 22, the SSPCA worked with Cats Protection to track down where Melvin was from.

The Gazette:

The SSPCA said: “It turned out he was born in Australia and adopted as a kitten by Scottish couple Jacqueline and Matt Dick.

“After 14 years down under, the pair decided to move back home, spending $8,000 to bring Melvin, and their border collie Max, back to Scotland with them.”

The SSPCA added: “We were delighted to be able to reunite Melvin with Jacqueline and Matt after all this time.

“It is so important to have your pets microchipped so that, as in this case, owners can be traced quickly.”

Jacqueline said: “We were devastated when Melvin went missing. We did everything we could think of to try and find him, but by winter we feared the worst.

“We were over the moon when we received the call that he’d been found by the Scottish SPCA.

“The first night we got him home he didn’t leave my side and was purring really loudly. I was in floods of tears as I never thought I’d see him again.

“We just want to say a big thank you to everyone who looked out for him while he was missing and helped get him back home where he belongs.”

Melvin was picked up by the Scottish SPCA chief inspector Laura McIntyre, who took him to be checked by a vet and then transported him to the charity’s Glasgow Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre.

Laura said: “One of the first things we do with animals when they come into our care is scan them for a microchip. As you can imagine, the team were slightly confused when Melvin’s details came back registered to an address in Australia!

“With assistance from Cats Protection, we were able to solve the mystery of Melvin’s journey to Scotland and reunite him with his owners.

“We were delighted to be able to reunite Melvin with Jacqueline and Matt after all this time. It is so important to have your pets microchipped so that, as in this case, owners can be traced quickly.”