A family’s missing cat has been returned five years after it vanished during the Covid lockdown.
Jilly Fretwell was left ‘devastated’ when Bindi, her beloved five-year-old black cat, ran off from Somersham, Cambridgeshire, in 2020.
The 29-year-old admitted she and her family had basically given up hope that they would ever see their pet again – until earlier this month.
It was almost like a Christmas miracle when Jilly received a call from the vets saying a woman in Haddenham had handed a black cat in – and its microchip scanned as Bindi.
The cat, now 10, was in good health and had been ‘well looked after’ and ‘instantly’ recognised her family.
Jilly told the BBC: ‘She’s been missing for five years and we got a call on Thursday from the lovely vets in Witchford to say they had scanned her microchip and she was coming back home to us.
‘She had a couple of little scratches on her that the vet wanted to see to, but other than that, she looks great. She’s lovely and glossy, well-fed and has been looked after somewhere. But we have absolutely no idea where she has been the last five years.’
Bindi disappeared during the Covid pandemic and Jilly spent her daily walks searching for her, sharing appeals on social media and asking people across Haddenham to keep an eye out.
Despite being 10 years old and having spent so long away from her family, Bindi remains affectionate, happily cuddling up to Jilly and settling on her lap.
Jilly Fretwell, 29, received a call to say her cat Bindi had been handed into a vets – FIVE years after she vanished
Describing the moment the vets called, Jilly said: ‘We picked her up from the vets, and it’s like she recognised us. She was instantly on our lap, giving us snuggles, and it was the best feeling. A real Christmas miracle.’
While Bindi’s family may never know what happened to her since 2020, they believe someone may have taken her in.
This comes after the Mail previously reported how a man was full of joy after his cat returned after she went missing for 16 years.
Carl Pullen said his pet cat, Sunshine, then six months old, scampered out of his home in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, in 2009, and never returned.
In 2023, an elderly cat who had been missing for two years cried after recognising her owners’ scent when she was finally brought home, having spent that time living on the streets.
Alison and Dean Lyng, from Chatham in Kent, lost their beloved 25-year-old cat, Kizzy, in 2021 when she failed to return home one day.
