A cat who went missing eight years ago has been reunited with her owners after she was found 280 miles away – in Paris.
Marna Gilligan, 39, and Sean Purdy, 36, were a couple when they adopted black-and-white cat Moon Unit, who sadly went missing from their home during a New Years’ Eve party.
The couple were convinced she was gone for good and despite splitting up, the pair remained good friends and were shocked when a Parisian cat rescue got in touch.
Last weekend Sean travelled to Paris to pick up Moon Unit and take him back home after a mammoth eight year journey, but nobody knows how the moggy travelled across the channel.
Marna, who works as a programmer, said: “We thought she was gone for good. I told myself that she’d found a lovely new family and was living the catty high life.
“Fast forward to this summer. 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 ours?”
Moon Unit was found wondering next to a railway in Paris earlier this year and stayed at the rescue centre until they found her microchip and contacted Marna.
Marna and Sean are now fundraising for the rescue centre L’Association d’Aide et de Defense des Animaux en Detresse (corr) to thank them for reuniting them with their beloved pet.
Marna, who now lives in Gravesend, Kent, with Moon Unit’s kitten 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 coming home on the ferry from Calais.”
“I couldn’t believe it, I thought it was a mistake because how could my cat end up in Paris?
“She was brought home last weekend and the cat rescue sorted out her pet passport and brought her to meet Sean when he came to pick her up.
“They are my heroes.”
