A cat named Rambo who went missing for a month was returned to his owners needing an eye removed from fighting – and was allowed to sleep in their bed as a treat.
Rambo, aged four, was adopted in June from a rescue centre and has a habit of fighting neighbourhood cats and dogs, and a voracious appetite for hunting ‘gifts’ for his owners.
The grey-and-white puss vanished at the end of December and worried owners Amanda Byrne and husband Stuart Macintosh plastered posters around the area hoping it would bring him home.
Instinctively they did not believe Rambo was dead, but dreaded coming home to an empty house in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, and distributed 1,000 flyers.
Amanda was thrilled when she got a call from the Scottish SPCA saying Rambo had been found – as he had been visiting another family and eating their cat’s food.
The family alerted the welfare charity which took Rambo, who is microchipped, back to Amanda and Stuart on January 4.
But one of Rambo’s eyeballs had become punctured and withered away, and he needed it removed – but as a treat he was allowed to sleep on his owners’ bed, somewhere he is not usually allowed due to his habit of bringing in live frogs at 3am.
He finally had his plastic cone removed at the weekend and is back to his old self.
Amanda said: “When we got him back we were asked ‘has he got an eye injury?’.
“I think he was fighting and ran away, basically his eye shrivelled up.
“He’s called Rambo because he’s always fighting.
“In the summer when it was allowed a friend brought a puppy round on a lead and Rambo was wanting to fight the dog.
“He wasn’t able to go outside for a couple of weeks because of his lampshade, he must think it’s rubbish.
“He was quite happy living with these other people, all they want is to be warm and to be fed.”
Because of his habit of bringing back ‘gifts’ such as a mutilated hedgehog, Rambo has been banned from the bedroom – but tries to scratch the door down regardless.
Since his op he was been allowed to snuggle up in the bed, as he was not allowed out to go hunting until his lampshade was removed.
Amanda, who works as a planner, said the couple, who have always got their cats from rescue centres, were overjoyed to have Rambo back.
She said: “We both had a feeling he wasn’t dead.
“But we couldn’t believe it, it had been so long with no sightings.
“It has always been my husband who won’t let him on the bed, when we got him back we felt so sorry for him we let him sleep on the bed – before he always used to go out at night.
“It is like a cat hotel, they come and go as they like.”
