After an accidental trip in a parcel van, Arwen the Tabby cat fulfilled her destiny by turning up in the family a family garden, nine months later!
Arwen, named after the elf queen played by Liv Tyler in The Lord of the Rings, vanished in August last year from a remote farmhouse.
Despite heroic efforts from her owner, Elaine Harris, who flyposted the local area and set up Facebook campaigns to help find her, Arwen remained lost.
But as Bilbo Baggins says in the film of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy for Arwen it was case of “Not all those who wander are lost”.
Elaine, 59, who works in personal development, was heartbroken when Arwen disappeared, not least because the cat had supported her when her husband Richard died.
He had found Arwen among a litter of kittens in a shed near their home and had kept her and her sister Rosie Cotton, named after Samwise Gamgee’s wife from The Hobbit, when the other cats were rehomed.
Elaine said, “When my husband died, the cats were such lifesavers, they gave me something to focus on, and Arwen was always the most affectionate.
“So when she vanished, I was distraught. I thought all sorts of things - that she'd been eaten by a fox or attacked by a badger. I thought she drowned in the pond. It was awful.
“The farmhouse was at the end of a quarter of a mile of driveway surrounded by fields, and she would always come when I called her, but suddenly she didn’t.
“I think the most likely thing is she climbed into the back of an Amazon van and then climbed out and didn’t know where she was.
“Being a farm cat, she’s always been a great hunter and caught mice, birds and rabbits, so I think she was able to feed herself and she would have been quite comfortable.”
Elaine, from Great Barford, in Bedfordshire, went back to her life and in December, four months after Arwen vanished, moved house to a village 20 miles away, thinking that she would never see her beloved cat again.
Meanwhile six miles from her old home Arwen appeared in the garden of Kate Frampton, 49, from Sharnbrook, Beds.
Kate, who has a kitten called Pumpkin herself and is speaking on the first anniversary of mandatory microchipping for cats, said: “One day this beautiful tabby appeared in our garden.
“We thought it was a pet by how friendly she was and she knew what a cat flap was and ate the food we put out for her.
“First of all I tried to entice her into a cat basket so we could take her to a vet to see if she was microchipped but she just wasn't having any of it and we got quite scratched.
“The vet said there wasn’t anything they could do so I bought a microchip scanner online and discovered her chip number.”
In the UK microchips are registered with a variety of private companies and Kate discovered Arwen’s details were held by identi which once alerted to her whereabouts, contacted owner Elaine.
She said: “I got a text saying she had been found and it was WOW, I was in shock and shaking, I never thought I’d see her again.
“I called Kate and as she was standing in her garden and telling me she usually appeared in the afternoon Arwen walked up to her.
“I think she must have heard my voice and the next thing I know I’m talking to her on the phone.
“I went straight around and she was sat on Kate’s lap and then she heard my voice and jumped up and we were reunited. The microchip had done it’s job.”
Elaine and Kate both agreed to share their stories to help promote National Microchipping Month and remind both Vets and Keepers of the importance of microchipping, registration and keeping details up to date.
Unchipped pets are very hard to reunite with owners and the Woodgreen animal charity estimates 75% of lost cats and dogs are unable to be reunited with their keepers due to incorrect chip details or not being microchipped to start with.
Claire Jefferies, chief marketing officer of identi, said: “There is nothing more distressing for a pet owner than being separated from their beloved animal.
“We were so delighted to be able to play a part in reuniting Arwen with her owner Elaine.