Missing Blackburn cat makes its return from Mitcham almost a year after it went missing

A BLACKBURN couple have been reunited with their furry best friend almost a year after he went missing.

A BLACKBURN couple have been reunited with their furry best friend almost a year after he went missing.

Leanne and Ben Harris hadn’t seen outdoor cat Jensen since September 21, 2017 when he didn’t return to their Blackburn home.

Ms Harris said they spent months trying to find the cat who had been part of their family since they adopted him four years earlier.

She said they wondered if perhaps the cat was lost, or if someone had taken him, and spent months campaigning to find him.

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“We spent weeks — months — searching everywhere,” she said.

The pair posted flyers around the neighbourhood and at schools from Blackburn across to Box Hill.

Leanne Harris's cat Jensen has been returned to her after having been missing for 11 months. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Ms Harris visited animal shelters and built a web page for their missing cat.

She even took out an ad in Whitehorse Leader, pleading for information about her “missing best friend”.

“I was so distraught,” she said. “You have no idea.”

“I was only just starting to move past it when we got the call.”

But on August 21, 2018 — exactly 11 months after Jensen went missing — Mr Harris received a call from the Blackburn Vet, advising him they had his cat at the clinic.

Ms Harris said they were in disbelief upon hearing the news.

“I just burst out in tears,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Leanne Harris's cat Jensen has been returned to her after having been missing for 11 months. Picture: Valeriu Campan

The couple were told Jensen had been brought in by a woman from Mitcham, who said she had seen the cat hiding in the bush — about five kilometres from his home.

Jensen’s rescuer said she thought he was being attacked by nearby cats, so lured him out with food.

She said her sister then nursed and cared for him before she took him to the vet, where he was identified by his microchip.

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Ms Harris is overjoyed, and said Jensen was “absolutely” glad to be back home, immediately remembering where his bed was, and taking up his former place cuddling against her husband’s legs.

Ms Harris said she had previously tried for many months to make her cat an ‘indoor cat’, but it made him sick from stress.

She’s planning to put a GPS tracker on him so he doesn’t go missing again.

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