Tiggles the cat found a few miles from home after going missing for five years

A cat that went missing five years ago has been reunited with her owner after being found eight miles away from home.

Tiggles vanished from Rachel Sutherland's home in Kenfig Hill, Bridgend county, in September 2020 when she was just eight months old.

When Rachel answered her phone to the vet on Wednesday she assumed the short-haired tabby had been found dead but was delighted to found out she had been found in nearby Brackla and was ready to go home.

"I just burst into tears," the restaurant manager said.

"The vet did not understand the situation and thought she had only been missing for a day or two."

After Tiggles, now six, disappeared, the family spent months knocking on doors trying to find her.

"I didn't know if she had fallen asleep on someone's car or had lost her bearings or whether someone had taken a fancy to her," Rachel said.

"And it's common for cats to disappear and go to someone else's house."

Her family also feared she may have been caught by a badger or fox.

When Rachel told her children Aidan and Emily, aged 12 and six, she had a surprise for them, they both guessed Tiggles was back.

"I don't know how," Rachel said.

But no-one has any idea where Tiggles has been for the past five years, but Rachel said she had been "very well looked after... there are no scratches or marks and her fur is in perfect condition".

However, Tiggles has suffered an injury and is struggling to use her back legs but Rachel hopes she will settle back in with the family's other cats, a pair of ginger tabbies named Ginger and Ninja.

"I'm hoping she does not escape again, we would like her to be part of the family," she said.