Couple shocked as their supposedly cremated cat returns home

A couple in Hackney, London, UK were stunned after their pet cat turned up at the shelter and was then returned home to them – weeks after they thought they had cremated him following a car accident.

Margaret and John Ross were worried when 19 year old Amigo the cat did not show up for his breakfast one morning in January. A neighborhood search for the cat, who is described as having been a beloved character around Victoria Park for 15 years, ensued.

Margaret Ross said: “We have had him about 16 years. He was a stray and is now about 18 or 19 years old. We were quite worried because he doesn’t usually wander off.”

A week later the couple received a call from a neighbor who had mistakenly identified another cat, lying dead by the road, as Amigo.

Margaret said: “Everybody knows him because he has been sitting outside for years. He is a beautiful long-haired cat and people are always stopping to look at him.

“This other cat was badly injured and it really was his double. We didn’t question if it was him because were expecting him to be that way – we thought he would try to make his way home and would be knocked down by a car. He is totally deaf now.”

Nearly one month after Amigo’s disappearance, a stray brought to a local animal shelter was identified as the real Amigo when his microchip was scanned.

Now back at home, Amigo is getting back to his old self.

Margaret said: “I must say for the first week we couldn’t believe we had him back – we had given up on him but he is gradually getting better.

“He had lost a lot of weight – when I saw him I thought it would be to say goodbye, he looked so miserable and dreadful, but he has made a good recovery.”

“He looks at me now if I give him ordinary tinned food, like he is saying: ‘I can do better than that’.”

Karen Harrison Binette

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