Tail of the lost puss who turned up eight years on .... in Paris
A PET cat who went missing eight years ago has been reunited with its owners after being discovered 280 miles away... in Paris.
Marna Gilligan, 39, and Sean Purdy, 36, adopted Moon Unit – named after rock star Frank Zappa’s daughter – more than a decade ago.
The black and white short-haired moggy went missing from their home during a New Year’s Eve party. Even though the pet was microchipped, the couple were convinced she was gone for good and had given up any idea of seeing her again.
In the intervening eight years the pair from Kent – who have since split up – were shocked when a Parisian cat rescue group got in touch to say they had found Moon Unit. And last weekend Mr Purdy travelled to Paris to pick up the cat and take her back home.
Mystery
But how she managed to cross the Channel in the first place still remains a mystery.
Ms Gilligan, a computer programmer, said: “We thought she was gone for good.
“I told myself she’d found a lovely new family and was living the catty high life.
“Fast forward to this summer and we got an email from the microchipping people – ‘a cat has been found in France, a cat rescue group picked her up when rescuing strays... is she yours?’”
Moon Unit was found wandering by a railway earlier this year.
She had stayed at the Paris rescue centre where staff spotted her microchip and made contact with Ms Gilligan.
Once the cat’s identity was confirmed, the rescuers arranged her pet passport and had her ready for Mr Purdy to collect,
Moon Unit’s owners are now fundraising for the rescue centre L’Association d’Aide et de Defense des Animaux en Detresse to say thank you for finding their pet.
Ms Gilligan, who now lives in Gravesend, Kent, with Moon Unit’s daughter Roswell, added: “It seems impossible but a quick exchange of photos proves that it is indeed the same cat. We’ll never know how she got to France, but she’s come home on the ferry.
“I couldn't believe it – how could my cat end up in Paris?”
And of the rescuers, she said: “They are my heroes!”