Clever kitty Cloud finds his way home to Harrogate... from Otley

After a month spent searching for him round Harrogate, Otley and even Huddersfield to no avail, Cloud’s owner Moira Morgan had almost given up hope.

Then, on a quiet Sunday night and after 30 days away, 11-year-old Francesca spotted a grey cat lurking in the bushes outside their home on Green Lane.

Upon inspection, the family were elated to find that Cloud had finally finished his incredible 20 mile round trip and had miraculously found his way safely home.

Despite looking a little worse for wear after his unexpected journey, Moira confirmed that her 5-year-old prized possession was as good as new, if not a tad peckish.

She said: “We were having our Sainsbury’s delivery and, when the van turned up at 9pm, we shut the door and the delivery was done with no problems.

“However, on the Saturday we realised he was gone and began checking everywhere for him. It was only on the Monday that my dad said he may have jumped in the van.

“I didn’t think it was likely because he’s a real house cat but when I rang Sainsbury’s up they said that a large grey cat had actually jumped out the van in Otley but then he disappeared into the fields.”

This sparked the beginning of a mini cat-hunt, with posters and leaflets being handed out and a social media campaign urging people to keep an eye out.

Despite hundreds of tweets and messages on Facebook, all Moira’s leads took her to dead ends with calls coming from as far a field as Altrincham.

After such extensive searching, Moira said that her family were still in shock that Cloud appeared out of the blue especially considering the length of the trip.

According to Google Maps, it would take someone almost three-and-a-half hours to walk from Otley to Green Lane and Moira admitted that even she had trouble with the journey.

She said: “People have been telling me that cats have amazing instincts but he’s a house cat so I thought there’s no way.

“Even I got lost coming from Otley so there was little chance he could do it.

“I had given up on it by this stage but it’s amazing that he’s come back, although he’s lost half his body weight.

“We are going to have to use him as a sat-nav in future but only if we’re coming home.”