Sophie reunited with her owners

More than two weeks after she scarpered from the wrong owner, Sophie the cat has been reunited with her Motueka family.

Sophie had been missing since November 24, after a mix-up at a Motueka cattery saw her mistaken for another cat and sent home with someone else.

Ruth Rosamond said she never gave up hope of finding 14-yearold Sophie, and being reunited with her was ‘‘a little Christmas miracle’’.

The beloved tabby was found on Monday night by a woman in

Teece Drive, not far from where Sophie had escaped.

For 16 days, Rosamond’s family had been searching the streets of Motueka, hoping to find Sophie.

Rosamond said they had just printed another 400 flyers to put into letterboxes when she got a text from Paws On Parkside cattery owner Amanda Inglis about a possible sighting.

A photo confirmed for the family that it was indeed Sophie, and they rushed to the house where she had been seen.

‘‘When we got there 20 minutes after we got the information, there she was in a cage. It was Sophie, and all of us were just in tears, it was just wonderful.’’

She said Sophie had been yowling at the woman’s back door, wanting to come inside and be fed.

Sophie was pleased to be home. Rosamond said – she had been ‘‘purring her head off’’’, and had spent an hour with her head in her food bowl on Monday night. She had lost a bit of weight, so was rather bony, and was reluctant to go outside.

‘‘She has survived remarkably well.’’

Inglis said she was also very pleased Sophie had been found. The woman who found Sophie would receive a $400 reward from Rosamond, as well as a $400 reward from Paws On Parkside.