Kamshi Ahmed
A Glasgow family has been reunited with their cat after it went missing on Boxing Day seven years ago.
Grey tabby Kylo followed owner Gavin Hopper outside when he walked his dog in Maryhill Park in December 2017. Kylo did not return home after it started to snow.
But two weeks ago, Gavin and wife Frankie received a phone call from a vet four miles away in Bishopbriggs, saying the cat had been found alive and well.
Kylo – mistaken for a female and renamed Poppy – had been living with a woman across the city. He has now returned home and has settled back in.
Frankie said they had looked for months for Kylo, with their dog Harley searching the park for his scent.
When the family moved house they even asked the new owners to get in touch if the cat ever came back.
It all changed when Kylo was identified by a vet, who scanned his microchip when he was brought in to be vaccinated.
Frankie said: “They asked do you want your cat and I couldn’t think of anything else in that moment. We were all sobbing.
“Deep down, I did think he was gone and just to know he was still alive was amazing.”
Frankie said that even staff at the vet were shocked to learn where their cat had been for years.
She added: “He had showed up to this wee woman’s back door and she just took him in.
“She thought he was a girl and she’d been calling him Poppy this whole time.”
Frankie said she sympathised with the woman who had cared for Kylo and wondered if they were doing the right thing bringing him home.
“She’s really looked after him,” she said.
“A lot of people said you must be really angry, why didn’t she ever take him to a vet and I can’t even think about that.
“I just think if it wasn’t for her, maybe he wouldn’t have been here so I’m just really happy that we’ve got him back.”
Now reunited with his owners, Kylo – almost eight-years-old – has reacquainted himself with Harley and met new dog Tinkerbelle.
Frankie said Harley remembered Kylo and was “happy and excited” to see him come home.
“I’ve always had a cushion on my bed with Kylo’s picture on it and if you say to Harley where’s Kylo? Her ears always still went up so she remembered him.
“She was going crazy, so happy and acted like normal and now she acts like he’s never been away.”
Kylo is fit and healthy but “sleeps all day” since he returned home.
Although previously an outdoor cat, the family intend to keep him inside for now.
“He’s grounded forever,” Frankie said.
