Long-lost cat back with family eight years after going missing

A FAMILY cat-astrophe has had a purr-fect ending after Silvie the purebred British shorthair returned home eight years after she went missing.

A FAMILY cat-astrophe has had a purr-fect ending after a beloved feline turned up eight years after going missing.

When Silvie the purebred British shorthair couldn’t be found in 2009, the Crossland family of Yarra Glen were heartbroken their pet of eight months was gone.

Chief cat-lover Steve Crossland said: “She never came back. We put up signs and everything for about 12 months.”

As time passed though, hope dwindled and talk turned to getting another cat.

Silvie the British shorthair is reunited with Quinn, 6, Steve, Silvie, Eve, 12, Felicity and Will Crossland, 14, after going missing for eight years. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Mr Crossland said their children Will and Eve, then six and four, were keen to get a new one. Now they are 14 and 12, and have a little sister, Quinn, 6.

But Felicity Crossland did not want another animal unless it was Silvie coming home.

Last Thursday, that’s exactly what happened.

A family had brought a cat into Coldstream Animal Aid.

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Their elderly mother, 94, was no longer able to live at home and needed to give up her beautiful silver-haired companion.

Mr Crossland has been told that the lady, who lived a few streets away, had lost her husband not long before finding Silvie.

“She never let her outside and she fed her roast chicken,” he said.

Animal Aid cattery manager Lynn Bell said it was fortunate Silvie was microchipped and that her details were current, as it allowed her to be reunited with the Crosslands straight away.

Mrs Crossland kept the amazing discovery a secret until Mr Crossland arrived home.

“I was overcome with joy,” he said, of seeing Silvie again.

“That’s not our cat,” he’d said in surprise. “You’re s------g me. What do you mean? Oh my god, Silvie,” he said, in a video of the happy moment.

He got down on his knees to pat her in the family laundry.

“You came back. You came back.”

Mr Crossland said Silvie had taken her return home well and did not seem stressed.

“She needs to go on a bit of a diet and she’s not going outside,” he said.

Mr Crossland, a shopfitter, said he was “a little bit upset” that Silvie had been taken from them for so long, but was delighted to have her back.